WOODCOCK CARRYING YOUNG-BOOTED EAGLE 109 



I cannot say how. My belief is that they tuck 

 them between the tarsi and the breast. In 

 sorting a lot of the old Ampthill collection here 

 the other day, I found a Muscicapa albicollis 

 labelled " Goldfinch " ; this was in all probability 

 a British-killed bird. ... On Wednesday Jones 

 insisted on my going to shoot off hares, so I 

 sent for George Hunt and we bagged 33 hares, 

 1 rabbit, 9 partridges, 2 woodpigeons, and 2 jays. 

 George Hunt vows that he killed a solitary 

 snipe which fell the other side of the river ; he 

 had no dog. He certainly gave a good descrip- 

 tion of the appearance of the bird, which he had 

 never seen before alive. I shot a woodpigeon 

 out of the boat, with his crop crammed with 

 beechmast ; this is early for that food. I saw 

 a merlin on Friday, jack snipe on Thursday, 

 redwing to-day, and heard brambling, and saw 

 three tawny owls near aviary.' 



To Albert Gunther. 



' Bewsey Hall, Warrington, November 7, 1875. 



' . . . Spain appears to be the special home 

 of Aquila pennata 1 in Europe. We saw no less 



1 Booted Eagle. 



