Birds. 9103 
handled. They were purchased by Mr. Vidler. There were several 
more seen at the same time. 
Joun Dutton. 
Norfolk Ornithology—tI am quite sure that when you inserted in last month’s 
* Zoologist’ (Zool. 9025) a reprint of my paper on the Ornithology of Norfolk, from 
the new edition of White’s Gazetteer for this county, you had no intention of doing 
anything which would place me in a false position; but the fact of the appearance of 
that paper, slightly altered in style of arrangement, and with my name attached, 
would naturally lead to the impression that I had forwarded it myself as a communica- 
tion to the ‘ Zoologist. It is this impression that I am particularly desirous of cor- 
recting, inasmuch as the work for which this paper was written by request is not yet 
published, and Mr. White would have had a very fair ground of complaint against 
me had I forestalled that portion of his publication, by contributing it entire to 
another journal. Mr, White very kindly supplied me with copies of my paper for 
private distribution as soon as that part of the Gazetteer had passed through the 
press, and one of these I forwarded to you, knowing your interest in such local 
“lists,” and thinking you might be inclined to notice the fact of its publication by way 
of review. You will, I am sure, readily give insertion to this explanation, which is, 
I think, desirable under the circumstances, both as regards Mr. White and myself.— 
AI. Stevenson. 
[I regret this mistake, but I am so much in the habit of regarding all communica- 
tions sent to the ‘ Zoologist’ as intended for publication, that I arranged Mr. Steven- 
son’s for press as a matter of course. Mr. Stevenson neither requested publication 
nor accompanied the paper by a veto.— Edward Newman.] 
Rare appearance and scarcity of the Kite and other Birds.—In answer to Mr. Fox’s 
remarks on the scarcity of the kite (Zool. 9039), it is to be hoped that the bird seen 
by him on the way to be stuffed was not the last of the species in Wiltshire. Many 
years ago, when on a long visit to a relation who lived within a very few miles of 
Whittlebury Forest, Northamptonshire, my eyes were very frequently gratified by a 
view of this noble hawk sailing majestically through the air in beautiful circles, 
without seeming to move a feather for minutes together, and now and then dropping 
gently down to the earth on his prey, a mouse or small bird frequently. The kite is 
the bird named by Butler, in his ‘ Hudibras, as the “ verriest long-winged hawk that 
flies.” No doubt the gun of the gamekeeper and the rat-trap, judiciously covered with 
earth or weeds and baited with a mouse or a bird in open fields, are the causes why we 
now seldom see the kite in all game-preserving countries; but I regret his dis- 
appearance, as he is a much more harmless enemy to game of all sorts than many of 
his congeners not half his size. With respect to the scarcity of other birds, there are 
many causes, which have lately been mentioned in the ‘ Zoologist,’ to account for it, 
such as the increase of population, the clever manner in which the birdcatchers entrap 
most of the singing birds of all sorts, the great mania for the collection of birds’ eggs, 
and, last though not least, the increased number of juvenile sportsmen with pistols and 
fowling-pieces (many boys take excellent aim with the catapult and destroy an immense 
number of birds); in fact, the increased number of traps and engines for the purpose 
of killing birds and game of all sorts. The only bird which seems, in my knowledge, 
‘to have increased in number is the common house sparrow. That great bird, the 
bustard, or wild turkey, used to be plentiful in Norfolk ; they were often run down by 
