GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER— SNOWY OWLS 171 



Walter Eothschild has, through Dresser, offered 

 to allow me to have a drawing taken from a 

 Spotted Eagle in his possession recently caught 

 in Essex ; I believe that the bird is at Tring. 

 I should be glad to have a drawing from a 

 British specimen.' 



To F. D. Drewitt. 1 



' Lilford : November 22, 1891. 



' . . . This morning arrived the contents of 

 the gizzard of P. martins. I wish that I could 

 obtain these black ants for my bird, as I used to 

 do through Father Jamrach from Germany ; but 

 he assures me that the big men in that country 

 have found out their value for pheasant rearing 

 and as food for black game, and will not allow the 

 foresters to collect them. Where did you find 

 the bird ? I have once or twice come across a 

 specimen in Leadenhall Market, sent over in ice 

 with parcels of Norwegian game. The note of 

 P. martins is very remarkable, and may almost 

 be called musical ; at all events, it suits the 

 surroundings. Rough-legged Buzzards are fre- 



1 In answer to a letter accompanying a packet of black ants 

 taken from a Great Black Woodpecker killed in Norway. 



