8 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



with and occasionally shot at Deene Park and at 

 Blatherwycke, where one was killed in 1870 by 

 H. O. de Stafford, Esq. T have an Osprey stuffed 

 that was killed in the Park at Boughtori, Kettering, 

 flying over with a perch in its talons, in 1869, and 

 Mr. G. M. Edmonds, before quoted, kindly informs 

 me that he saw and pursued an Osprey about Perry 

 Herne, on the Nen below Oundle, for a whole day 

 in October 1863. I have myself only twice clearly 

 identified the bird alive in these parts, viz. on April 

 18, 1870, when my attention was attracted by a great 

 uproar among the Rooks, which were busy at their 

 nests in a large rookery at a short distance from this 

 house and near the river. I looked up from my 

 fishing, and saw a large bird flying towards me down 

 the course of the river at no great height ; I stepped 

 behind a bush ; and the Osprey flew over within easy 

 shot-range, hotly pursued by a number of Rooks, of 

 which he seemed to take very little notice ; he circled 

 once or twice over a wide part of the river just below 

 Pilton Bridge, and sailed away in a north-westerly 

 direction, probably bound on a visit to Biggin Pond, 

 near Oundle, where an Osprey was shot some thirty 

 years ago, as I was informed by the late David Watts 

 Russell, Esq. 



An Osprey passed within easy gunshot-range of 

 me as I sat fishing from my boat on the river between 

 Lilford and Oundle on August 25, 1883. I first saw 

 the bird coming down the course of the river at some 

 distance above me, flying low, and hotly pursued by 

 a Crow and many Swallows, and I snatched up my 

 gun, but soon recognizing the species of the stranger, 

 sat still, and the Osprey came on till within forty or 

 fifty yards before noticing us ; he then soared away 



