ao LOCAL OBSERVATION 



t 



two days, March i6th-i7th, and a grey-hen killed on 

 1 8th id." 1 



"May $rd, 1895. 



" I cannot even hear of an occupied nest of owl of 

 any sort hereabouts. It is true that almost all our favourite 

 tawny owl trees were uprooted in the fall of March 24th, 

 but we have some left, and plenty of the owls. Here 

 three eggs is the rule, but I have known of four. 



"Our first swift appeared yesterday, and all our regular 

 spring birds are now in, except turtle-dove, hobby, and 

 nightjar. The cirl bunting is almost unknown in the 

 county. I remember seeing several one summer between 



Southampton and Hamble, and used to see them 



at Hythe." 2 



"April zoth, 1892. 



a I take it as most friendly and obliging of you to 

 give me the very welcome news of the kites' nest in 

 your county,* and I sincerely hope that your most praise- 

 worthy efforts may be rewarded by your having the 

 satisfaction of seeing some seven or eight kites circling 

 in the air. I wish there was a chance of the return of 

 this fine bird to its ancient haunts in the great woodlands 



1 To E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, Esq. 



2 To the same. 



* The Common Kite (Milvus ictinus), once the scavenger of London, 

 is now only just not extinct in this country. Not many years ago 

 several were wantonly slaughtered in a Welsh district, where now, 

 as Mr. Phillips informs us, but a single bird remains. 



