VOL. XIV.] KITE, BUZZARD, RAVEN IN KENT. 37 



The following two items are remarkable for the large 

 number of heads that each records. At first sight it would 

 appear that some error had been made, but in each case the 

 price paid does not fit in with the usual tariff for the species 

 mentioned or for any other of the vermin enumerated, and 

 it is clear, I think, that they must have been all quite small 

 young ones taken from the nest, and the reward has been 

 reduced accordingly, as was done in other instances in mam- 

 malian items. The first would represent the contents of 

 fifteen to twenty Kite's nests, and the second that of three 

 or four Raven's nests. 



1676-7. 

 ffrancis Peck, for 3 dozen & halfe of Kj'te's heads & one 

 hedghogg's head .. .. .. .. .. oii 



1688-9. 

 To Tho. Hutton for 16 Raven's heads .. .. 006 



The rewards paid for Kites were very variable from year 

 to year — a penny each being often paid, at other times two- 

 pence, though in two instances they were valued at so little 

 as a farthing apiece. Buzzards fetched a penny in 1629 

 and twopence in 1680 and after ; while Ravens were valued 

 at a halfpenny in 1667, three halfpence in 1683, otherwise 

 they were worth a penny each. It may here be noted that 

 the value of a Sparrow-Hawk was invariably twopence, so that 

 there was no inducement on this score for the palming off 

 of the latter 's heads as those of its larger companions. 



In connection with the facts revealed by these records it 

 must be remembered that at this time the Weald was much 

 more wooded than it is even to-day, and that probably vast 

 acres of practically virgin forest still remained. There had 

 doubtless been a considerable amount of clearing done in the 

 vicinity of the town of Tenterden itself, commensurate with 

 its growth and the increase of cultivation, as well as in its 

 neighbourhood, for charcoal burning, for the supply of timber 

 for its shipbuilding yards at Small Hythe and Reading Street 

 on the near-by estuary of the Rother, and at a greater distance 

 inland for the wealden iron foundries, but the villages and 

 farms throughout the greater part of the Weald were still, for 

 the most part, only isolated clearings in the forest ; while roads 

 were few and indifferent, and communication from one to 

 another was effected mainly by forest tracks and bridle 

 paths. There was, therefore, ample harbourage for these 

 numbers of larger birds of prey close up to the town, and still 

 more so in the more sparsely inhabited and denser forest 

 inland. 



