Notes and Comments. 5 
FURTHER INVESTIGATION. 
However, it was suggested that the Secretary of the York- 
shire Wild Birds’ and Eggs Protection Committee should write 
to Mr. Hamilton, asking for the name and address of the 
person who caught the bird at Ripon, in order that proceedings 
might be taken against him! In reply, Mr. Hamilton men- 
tions his severe illness (pneumonia, three broken ribs, etc.), 
refers to the Kaiser and the Creator, and then states that as 
‘already said to a caller, he had no knowledge of a Black- 
Headed Bunting, neither have I supphed a Little Bunting 
from Ripon’ ! ! 
A MEMORY. 
Here, then, we have at last had an opportunity of investi- 
gating a case of a new record, seen ‘in the flesh’; a specimen 
supplied by a dealer who is probably not too well endowed 
with this world’s goods, and who knows that a ‘ new record ’ 
for a part of this country is likely to bring him more profit 
than is a foreign bird, sold as such. From the correspondence 
before us he has obviously a very bad memory (possibly 
through no fault of his own). As we heard he had been con- 
sulting bird lists at the local public hbrary it was evident he 
was anxious to know what was ‘rare’ and what was not. 
VALUE OF RECORDS. 
But is it fair to the science of ornithology to base new 
records on the evidence of a dealer with such a bad memory ? 
And if one has been proved to have had a bad memory, surely 
it is possible others have also. We do not for a moment suggest 
that a dealer might be unscrupulous in his search for custom 
and gain. Some might make such a suggestion; we don’t. 
We merely say it is unfortunate that in this one case we have 
been able to investigate, the dealer has had so bad a memory 
that he states in one letter the very opposite to what he wrote 
in another only a few days before ! 
-O:; 
Hen Harriers near Doncaster.— During the present autumn 
three examples of the Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus L.) have 
been shot in the neighbourhood of Doncaster. One, an adult 
female or ‘ Ringtail’ was obtained on the Brodsworth estate 
in October. Two others, both also females, have been shot 
on or near Hatfield Chase. J have not seen these so cannot say 
whether they are adult or young. I hear from the keeper at 
Hatfield that he has seen these birds, which he called Kites, 
off and on for at least a year. If this be so it is just possible 
that they have bred on the moor, but so far as I know no 
‘Blue Hawk’ has been seen.—H. H. CORBETT. 
1915 Jan. 1. . 
