i860] u Hesperus " makes his Defence. 1 1 7 



address the audience, the bystanders ; I beseech their indignation, 

 and they hoot him ; they pelt him with well-deserved sods and stones 

 as I do my best to pelt him with hardish words. It is not you, my 

 dear Newton, whom I can possibly blame. The Priest slays his 

 victims with the sacred knife with dignity and unblamed. He need 

 not run a murdering " muck," as do the uninitiated. But when twenty 

 collections are begun as a sort of toy, to be presently thrown aside, after 

 having woefully reduced the number of rare birds, then do you not 

 think the case calls for interference ? 



As to Master Peregrine stooping to conies. Well, of course, we 

 know he usually fells his flying victim like a true sportsman. But 

 truth must be told. Around a small stone land-mark, not a foot high, 

 I pick up "casts" filled with fur and rabbit bones.* Casts, as I 

 imagine, too large for the Kestrel, and at a spot close to the edge of 

 the cliff, where, last week, I saw the Falcon, and since have (to my 

 great joy) seen the pair. Neither are Kestrels much seen about otir 

 cliffs in winter. Nor have I seen any other hawk there of late. Then 

 I turn to M'Gillivray (a trustworthy man, surely), and he especially 

 mentions rabbits as the occasional prey of the Falcon. Then I find 

 Mr. Peregrine does not object to taking a ^0/-shot at young Squabs, 

 out of the rock -birds' nests. So evidently takes other besides a 

 flying quarry. Can you rebut this ? All the same, I am infinitely 

 obliged to you for that criticism, which I should have equally made 

 myself until within the last few weeks. 



" Isocheimonal" migration, I had written at full length to answer 

 the very objection you make about the Sylvia galactotes, but I thought 

 it best to compress the paper, and insist (to begin with) upon one 

 -mainspring. 



Taking the autumnal restlessness of the broods for granted, I think 

 their scattering irregularly westward, at a period when the weather 

 is still fine, not unreasonable : when you come to the next law I con- 

 ceive I see that they will fly to meet the prevailing wind, which blows 

 from a milder climate, and from the temperate water of the Atlantic. 



Nor did I intend it to be supposed the birds halt, many of them with 

 us ; but that they sweep round the N.W. angle of Europe, then 

 naturally southward. Can you help me to any papers touching upon 

 birds (warblers, &c.), flying over the mountain snows or not ? I think 

 they follow the passes like other travellers, and do not ascend high, 

 even where there is no snow. Above all, I am endeavouring to trace 

 the difference between the route followed in spring, and that followed 

 in autumn, which we know are mostly different : and I think I have 

 found out why. Many thanks for what you have so kindly told me. 

 Any assistance will be most thankfully acknowledged : one man cannot 

 do all. 



I will, if you please, avail myself hereafter, when in London, of your 



* Mr. Newton suggested in reply to this that the "casts" described might 

 have been those of the Raven. 



