168 HRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 



bourhood than formerly. I am satisfied that 

 Emberiza cirlus was a victim at Arish Mell. 

 (W.P.C.) 



There can be no doubt whatever that the intro- 

 duction of this Owl was a misguided effort to 

 improve our fauna, for which I think Mr. Meade 

 Waldo and Lord Lilford must take the blame. 

 Both were good enough Naturalists to have 

 known that "tinkering with the balance of 

 Nature " is a job of a delicacy quite beyond 

 the clumsiness of man. We have the Owls, 

 which are a bad exchange for the valuable help 

 of our insectivorous songsters. The Owls are, 

 compared with the birds we lose, vastly inferior 

 in utility, interest, and beauty ; and their 

 miserable hoot in the place of the melody of 

 our Sylviidae and Turdidae is a loss to our 

 woodlands and downs that would make a 

 marble statue weep. I suppose the introduction 

 may be put with that of the thistles in New 

 Zealand, the pig in Mauritius, the rabbit in 

 Australia, and the Sparrow in the United States 

 of America. ED. PHEN. NOTES. 



FALCONIDAE. 



(59) Buteo buteo. The Common Buzzard. 



Jan. 23 At Bere Wood one seen on the edge of the wood, 

 close to the wilderness below Woodbury Hill. 



Oct. 26 One reported by Head Keeper Wren on the 

 Canford Estate. (W.P.C.) 



(60) Buteo lagopus. The Eough- Legged Buzzard. 



On 23 April, 1918, Mr. S. H. Wallis, of Wey- 

 mouth, wrote me as follows : " I have been 

 offered a Rough-Legged Buzzard killed on 

 Thursday (viz., 20 April). However, being 



