OF HARTING. 253 



our vigilant keepers. Since then a wounded specimen 

 has been picked up in the Westwood. The rough- 

 legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) is still more rare, but 

 one fine specimen was shot a few years back close to 

 the park. In the winter of 1863-4, the Sea Eagle 

 (Haliaetus albicilld) paid us a visit of several weeks, 

 during which it had many a narrow escape from 

 Walker's patent shot and the hands of the taxidermist ; 

 and in the year '24, a young specimen of the Osprey 

 (Pandion haliaettts] was shot on the estate, and may 

 still be seen in a glass case in Uppark House.* The 

 Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus] is met with much 

 more frequently than either of the buzzards, but as an 

 occasional visitant only. Several individuals have 

 been shot or trapped in the neighbourhood, and are 

 preserved in some of our local museums. The Kestrel 

 (Falco Tinnunculus) and the Sparrow Hawk (Accipiter 

 nisus), tho' "few and far between," are permanently 

 resident here, and their eggs are met with every 

 season in the deserted nests of Crows and Magpies. 

 The Marsh Harrier (Circus (zruginosus) pays us an 

 occasional flying visit; and in the year '27, one adult 

 individual was shot in one of the fields on Hucksholt 

 Farm. The Brown Owl ( Ulula ahico} and the Screech 

 Owl (Strix flammed) are also permanent residents, 

 chiefly frequenting the wooded parts of Uppark and 

 Lady Holt Park, where they rear their families in cavi- 

 ties in old decayed trees. f The Long-eared Owl (Asia 

 otus) is rare, but we have found its eggs in a crow's nest 

 on West Harting Down, and now and then the bird there 

 in winter. The Swift (Cypselus imtrarius], the Swallow 

 (Hirundo rustica], the House Martin (Hirundo urbicd), 

 and the Sand Martin (Hirundo riparia), are punctual 

 to their spring appointments, and return to their re- 

 spective nesting places with us in great numbers. The 



* This is now in the collection of the late Bishop Wilberforce. 

 t We once found an egg of the Brown Owl in a rabbit burrow. 



