Natural History. 81 



Lincoln formerly. A few pairs of lapwings nest in an upland 

 pasture, and larger flocks come in winter ; their eggs are often 

 broken by the plough. Black-headed gulls are also winter 

 visitors ; they come from their breeding places at Twigmoor 

 near Brigg. Larger gulls are sometimes with them, or come 

 alone, but I never could determine the species. Larus ridibun- 

 dus loses its black head when the breeding season is over. 



I will now add what the keeper said about birds in 1891 : 



" We were very much troubled two years ago with a 

 perigrine falcon ; it killed a lot of partridges and some 

 pheasants ; we have had them here before, but not to stay as 

 this did, it was here for several weeks. We could not trap it, 

 as it never came a second time to eat of what it had killed. 

 Cook (an under-keeper) shot at it, it was never seen afterwards, 

 I think he must have killed it. It is two years since I saw a 

 buzzard, they are getting very scarce. We have plenty of 

 jays at Hatton Wood and Chambers' Wood, they breed 

 there ; magpies as well, but they are not as plentiful as the jays. 

 I saw near Chambers' Wood the other afternoon fifteen jays 

 fly out of a hedgerow, one after the other, into the wood. 



The sparrow-hawk is very troublesome with the pheasants. 

 We have trapped and shot about eleven this season, and there are 

 several about yet ; we see very little of them until the end of 

 July. Last year I killed near the pheasants fifteen or sixteen; 

 have killed something about the same quantity for several 

 years. We have a lot of trouble with the kestrel when the 

 pheasants are first hatched ; I believe they take them for mice. 

 Perhaps you may have heard of the white partridge that was 

 bred at Hatton about three years ago. A pure white starling 

 was killed at Hatton last year." 



The white partridge strayed off the property and was killed 

 and stuffed by a neighbouring land owner. 



The thickness of the game upon the ground seems to 

 attract birds of prey in considerable numbers, only to be, for 

 the most part, trapped or shot. With regard 'to the noble 

 peregrine, it is well known that they will fly as far as 50 miles 

 in search of food for their young, so this one may have come 

 from the cliffs of Yorkshire or the Peak of Derbyshire. 



Game rearing cannot be said to affect the botany of a district 

 to any great extent, on the whole it is in favour of the 

 botanist. The cutting down of some woods and planting of 

 others encourages certain plants, and some fields of stiff clay, 

 left in a state of nature for the benefit of the pheasants, 



Vol. 5, No. 38, Lines. N. & 9. 

 Nat. Hisf. Sea. 



