Letters, Extracts, Notices, b^c. 625 



occurrence is satisfactorily explained by a prairie fire, which 

 was the reason assigned by the cowboys for this strange 

 invasion of " Hawks/' as they call the Common Buzzards. 

 I was glad anyway to note on the following morning that the 

 Buzzard-host had disappeared as completely as the Assyrian 

 army, since nothing but my presence restrained the cattle- 

 men from utilizing the occasion for a general practice with 

 their Winchesters. 



Yours &C.J 



E. S. Cameron. 



[Mr. Cameron has, at my suggestion^ liberally presented 

 a series of Buzzards which were sent to illustrate this letter 

 to the British Museum. — Ed.] 



Nuneliam Park, Oxon, 

 July 16th, 1891. 



Sir, — I have been much interested in reading Mr. Ogilvie 

 Grant's letter in your last number (above, p. 469). It 

 brings back to my mind many a pleasant day of the olden 

 time; for, although more than forty years have passed since 

 I visited Madeira, that beauteous land, 



" Where simply to feel that we breathe, that we live, 

 Is worth the best joy that earth elsewhere can give," 



yet I entertain a lively recollection of the time I spent with 

 Lowe, Wollaston, and Asseveido in studying the natural 

 products of the island. 



I indeed regret if anything I ever wrote has led Mr. Ogilvie 

 Grant or anyone else into error. I suppose Mr. Grant is 

 alluding in his letter to a communication made in years gone 

 by to the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History.' 



I never set up for being a scientific ornithologist, although 

 geographical ornithology has always had a great charm for 

 me. By this term I mean the comparison of similar species 

 of birds coming from various parts of the world. Of course 

 ornithologists have their crazes like all other denominations. 

 I remember procuring for Gould a number of specimens of 

 Hoopoes from various quarters for the purpose of investi- 

 gating the truth of his notion that the white spot on the 



SER. VI. VOL. III. 2 u 



