( 83 ) 



ON CERTAIN OTHER SPECIES OF BIRDS AND 

 THEIR FORMER STATUS IN KExNT. 



BY 



N. F. TICEHURST, m.a., f.r.c.s. 



In continuation of my recent article on certain species of birds 

 and their former status in Kent {antca, pp. 34-37), as revealed 

 by the vermin entries in the Churchwarden's Accounts of 

 Tenterden (1626-7 to 1711-12), it may not be without interest 

 to analyse the entries of the remaining nine that appear 

 therein, though it is clear that nothing very novel is to be 

 gleaned from them. Still, they do give a picture of the abun- 

 dance of certain species in the seventeenth century and show 

 what results were obtained by our ancestors by trapping 

 round their homesteads in the then vast woodlands of the 

 Weald. 



Hen-Harrier {Circus cyaneus). 



The onl}^ conclusion that can be drawn from the few entries 

 relating to this species is that it was not numerous at that time 

 in the Weald, and that, at any rate for the most part, those 

 that were trapped were mere casual visitors, and doubtless 

 met their fate while ravaging our ancestors' poultry-^^ards. 

 We have no evidence that the Hen-Harrier ever bred in the 

 Weald of Kent, though it did elsewhere in the county, nor does 

 it appear very probable that at that time there were any 

 suitable areas within its borders. It might be suggested, as- 

 in the case of the Kite, Buzzard, and Raven, that four out of 

 the eight entries of this species, consisting as the\^ do of lots of 

 three or four, may represent young birds taken from the nest, 

 but in the only one of them in which the date of payment 

 can be approximately determined, it is too early in the year 

 for this to have been so. The reward paid was, except in two 

 instances, twopence a head. 

 The entries are : — 



1679-80. 

 To Matthew Pelham for 2 Ringtaile heads . . . . 002 



1680-81. 

 To Tho. Curteis for i Ringtaile .. .. .. 002 



1681-2 (under date May 4th to 21st). 

 To Peter East for 4 Ringtailes .. .. .. o o 8- 



(Under date May .24th to June 3rd.) 

 To Tho. Curteis for 4 jayes, 8 Crowes and i Ringtaile o o S 



(Under date March 27th.) 

 To Tho. Curteis for 2 Ringtayles . . . . . . 004 



