948 The Zoologist— Octobee, 18G7. 



silver-eyed guillemots had been shot just previous to my visit. Jackdaws eat the 

 guillemots' eggs : for this crime the egg-gatherers pull the jackdaw's nests, and kill the 

 old ones if they can. — George Roberts; Lofthouse, near Wakefield. 



Hobby in Kent. — On the 31st of August I revisited the wood where I saw the three 

 hobbies together last year, and again saw two if not three there, certainly two together. 

 If as I infer they breed there, the young birds must disperse themselves over the 

 country, for we never see more than two or three. I was much pleased, on the 6th of 

 September, to meet with one close to Cobham, for the above-mentioned wood is in 

 quite a different district and on a different soil, quite isolated from other woods. This 

 hobby came over my head as I was returning from shooting. In the excitement of the 

 moment I fired at him, but fortunately, owing to the height he was at, did not hurt 

 him. On returning to the spot next day I found him as often as I liked, for he is by 

 no means a timid hawk, and spends most of his time in the air looking for prey, flying 

 with outspread wings in graceful swoops. His swift-like wings and short tail distin- 

 guish him from other small hawks. I saw him hanging almost motionless in the face 

 of the wind, rather like a kestrel, scarcely moving the wings. When the sun shines 

 on him he appears of a bright bronze colour. The head keeper had previously seen 

 him at the same place, a wooded eminence overlooking some rough long grass. — 

 Clifton ; Cobham Hall, Gravesend, September 7, 1867. 



Hobby near Nonvich. — On the 26th of June last a beautiful mature female hobby 

 was killed at Shotlerham, about six miles from Norwich: it measured thirteen inches 

 and a half total length, and thirty. one inches in the expanse of wings to extreme tip 

 of each. The stomach contained the remains of a young sparrow. — T. E. Gunn; 

 21, Regent Street, Norwich. 



Varieties of Kestrel's Eggs. — A gentleman living in this city had in his possession 

 a tame kestrel which had laid three eggs this season : the first is of the ordinary type ; 

 the second had the smaller end, and extending over half the surface, of a pale reddish 

 tinge, the remaining half being several shades darker ; of the third, half the surface 

 from the smaller end was pure white, the other half as in ordinary eggs of the species. 

 The bird from some accident has since died, and has been preserved with the eggs in 

 the same case. — Id. 



Common Buzzard at Looe. — On Wednesday last a fine specimen of the common 

 buzzard was trapped at Mowne, near Looe. The gamekeeper who had set the trap 

 happened to be near it when the bird was caught, and immediately released it without 

 the least injury, but instead of keeping it alive he unfortunately killed it, and sent it 

 to me. The plumage is excellent, being of the dark variety, and beautifully mottled. 

 Stephen Clogg ; Looe, September 12, 1S67. 



Buzzards in Kent. — About the middle of this month I saw in the distance what 

 I considered to be a buzzard, from the size of its wings, but as it was merely flying 

 along, and not soaring, I was not quite sure. Ou my mentioning this to the keepers 

 last night they informed me that a pair of buzzards had been seen near a certain 

 wood for the last two or three days. Accordingly this morning I set out for the 

 locality named, armed with a pair of opera-glasses, and very soon saw an unmistak- 

 able buzzard soaring in circles over a hop-garden. I at once saw that the bird I had 

 previously seen was exactly like this one. Buzzards appear to occur especially in 

 August, for on the 14th of August, last year, one was seen soaring at an immense 

 height in the air. A few years ago these visits were very frequent, and five were 



