24 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
and the Harriers can make their appearance only at 
the imminent risk of their lives. But for the Sparrow- 
hawk and the Kestrel, in fact, the hawk tribe would 
be almost unrepresented in Great Britain; and even 
these two comparatively favoured species have been 
so persecuted for many years past, that to catch sight 
of them is fast becoming a noteworthy event in a 
country ramble. 
The following extract from one of the Rev. F. O. 
Morris’s “‘ Letters to the Z7zmes” shows to what a 
terrible extent the slaughter of birds of prey has been 
carried in some parts of the country :— 
** Only the other day a cousin of mine in the North 
Riding sent me, quite casually, the following list of 
birds of prey destroyed on one estate alone—Glengarry, 
in Scotland—in three years, namely, between 1837 
and 1840. No wonder that some of them are totally 
extinct now, and others all but so, for the same work 
of destruction has been carried on, more or less, ever 
since. The list is by Mr. A. E. Knox. Here it is :— 
‘“** 247 white-tailed eagles, 15 golden eagles, 18 
ospreys or fishing eagles, 98 blue hawks, 275 kites, 
5 marsh-harriers, 63 goshawks, 7 orange-legged fal- 
cons, 11 hobby-hawks, 285 common buzzards, 371 
rough-legged buzzards, 5 honey-buzzards, 462 kes- 
trels, 78 mulen-hawks, 83 hen-harriers, 9 ash-coloured 
hawks, 6 ger-falcons, 1,437 hooded and carrion crows, 
475 ravens, 35 horned owls, 71 common fern-owls, 
3 golden owl, barn, or white owl, comparatively rare 
in Scotland, and 8 magpies.’ ” 
As far as the Sparrow-hawk is concerned, it must 
