Retrospective Criticism. 449 
near the habitations of man in that county; and I am therefore not dis- 
posed, on-one solitary fact, to alter my statement concerning that bird in 
Ornithologia. Yt is, as far as I am acquainted with it, a very shy bird. If 
any additional confirmation were wanted of the scarcity of this bird in the 
neighbourhood of the Ravensbourne, I might mention, that to him who 
delights in a very pleasant walk on the banks of the canal, from New Cross, 
through Forest Hill Wood, to Sydenham, and thence to Penge Wood, a rich 
treat is offered, particularly in the spring; when the nightingale and a 
numerous ef cetera will gratify his taste; but although here again I have 
rambled at all hours of the day, early and late and at noon, I never saw 
one solitary kingfisher, although the canal is not deficient in fish. Will 
these statements satisfy J. R., as they confirm mine, in my “ little work ;” 
a work, however, permit me to say, that, had it been printed in a larger 
type, would have made a decent quarto? — James Jennings. 14. Goswell 
Road, January 20. 1830. 
Claw of the Fern Owl.—I would beg leave to suggest to Mr. Dillon 
(p. 31.) that the singular claw of the fern owl is formed for the purpose of 
detaching the sharp hooked claws of the beetles or chafers which are occa- 
sionally affixed to the sides of the mouth, and must impede the bird’s swal- 
lowing them. — J. Hayward. February 11. 1830. 
Powers of Smell ascribed to the Vulture. — Sir, As it has repeatedly been 
remarked, in the annals of science, that the most splendid discoveries and 
most ingenious inventions have been attributed to wrong individuals, 1 
take the liberty of humbly observing, that the extracts inserted in the tenth 
Number of your admirable Journal, relative to the power of smell so 
generally ascribed to the vulture tribe, are not original. To your talented 
correspondent, Mr. Audubon of Louisiana, whose Shakspearean notes on 
the Falco Washingtonidna have already made him known to so many of 
your readers, is due the honour of having first exposed the fallacy of those 
views, in an interesting treatise, in the third number of Jameson’s Journal, 
entitled, “ An Account of the habits of the Turkey Buzzard, Valtur Ada 
Lin., with the view of exploding the opinion generally entertained of its 
extraordinary power of smelling ;”? onan attentive perusal of which, no one, 
in my humble opinion, can for a moment hesitate in crediting his assertion, 
that the vulture is not, and never was, in the enjoyment of any extraordi- 
nary olfactory power. — Perceval Hunter. Walthamstow, March 19, 
A Female Sparrowhawk with a blue Back.— Sir, In the Magazine of 
Natural History (Vol. I. p. 220.), your correspondent T. F. says he has 
never seen a female sparrowhawk with a blue back, like the adult male: I 
have seen two the last year (1829); one shot in October, the other in 
November, by myself, in the act of pursuing a wounded fieldfare, and it is 
now in my possession stuffed. — F. B. Kingsbury, February, 1830. 
The Snipe’s Beak. — Sir, I observe your correspondent, S. T. P. (p. 29.), 
speaks of the snipe’s beak as being formed for boring. I know the notion 
is very generally entertained that the woodcock and the snipe obtain their 
food by boring for it in soft earth; but this, I think, is mere conjecture, and 
not well founded: If these birds obtained their food in this manner, their 
bills must necessarily carry the marks of the mud, at the depth to which 
the bill has penetrated, and this I never could find. But being desirous of 
ascertaining the fact, I once took an opportunity of watching six or seven 
snipes at the foot of a little rill of water, in a meadow, during a hard frost, 
for fifteen or twenty minutes, through a glass, and they appeared to watch 
for their food, like the heron, and to take it by dashing their bills very 
quick into the water, which they also drew back again with great quick- 
ness, shifting their ground a little, occasionally. No doubt their food 
consists chiefly of animalcula, which they see moving in the water or on 
the wet surface. I once also had two young woodcocks, not half grown, 
which were caught by a cow-boy on a hill, where there was no water, and 
