SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



243 



season. I was especially anxious to procure a nest 

 of the sparrow-hawk last season, and asked the 

 keeper to send me word should he meet with 

 one. He shot the only pair seen on his ground 

 early in the season, and as the summer ad- 

 vanced without any others appearing he naturally 

 inferred that he had no sparrow - hawks in his 

 territory. Late in the summer, however, one of 

 his sons came in with the startling information 

 that a brood of young hawks were flying about in 

 a wood not far from the house, and without any 

 delay he went out and shot them. I was not able 

 to visit the spot till October, and I then noted 

 the particulars of the sparrow-hawk's nest. It was 

 situated in a Scotch fir, about fifteen feet from the 

 ground, on the border of a low wood, and was 

 supported between several stout branches ; in 

 bulk it appeared midway between a cushat's and 

 a crow's. The nest was clearly the work of the 

 birds themselves, and was formed wholly of 

 twigs, and lined with flakes of fir-bark, sodden by 

 the repeated rains. Many legs of birds and other 

 portions of skeletons lay on the nest, or were 

 entwined amongst the sticks, and one good speci- 

 men, with skull, neck and back vertebrae and legs 

 complete, showed the powers possessed by the 

 hawks of cleaning their victims. In this latter 

 case the skull was broken but not severed from 

 the neck — a fact which I thought highly interest- 

 ing in conjunction with the usual habit in birds of 

 prey of tearing off their victims' heads. 



Owls fare somewhat better than hawks in our 

 area, though they too have their enemies, and 

 offer easy marks for destruction when persecution 

 is directed against them. The long-eared owl is 

 the only common species on the hills, and is 

 generally found frequenting open clumps of wood- 

 land ; the tawny owl is abundant enough in the 

 policies skirting the hills, but does not as a rule 

 inhabit the small open fir-woods. In autumn, 

 the short-eared owl is occasionally met with 

 amongst the heather. In early summer four 

 localities were noted as occupied by the long- 

 eared species, and in the two instances where 

 the nests were found, an old magpie's had in 

 each case been chosen. One of these proved 

 interesting as being the same nest that had been 

 occupied and robbed in the previous season, and 

 it would have escaped scrutiny on this occasion 

 had not one of the young fallen out of the nest and 

 attracted the keeper's attention as he passed 

 through the wood. At the first opportunity I 

 climbed the occupied tree and found the two 

 downy youngsters sitting head to tail, their bright 

 golden eyes making them appear much smarter 

 little fellows than do the dark, watery-looking 

 eyes of the tawny owl. Somewhat later in the 

 season I climbed again and found the young owls 

 in a defiant attitude ; one of them to prevent 



capture got over the edge of the nest, but, being 

 unable to fly, was eapily driven to the ground, and 

 its companion was taken down in my pocket. On 

 the ground the young owl ruffled its plumage and 

 spread out its wings in a rounded manner and sat 

 like a defiant turkey, ready to resist all attacks, 

 and kept chuckling constantly the while. One of 

 the birds died after a few weeks' captivity, but the 

 other is still thriving beside four kestrels ; he never 

 quarrels with them, and even allows them by day 

 to take out of his bill without any remonstrance 

 pieces of flesh that have been given him. As 

 night draws on he becomes lively and utters a 

 low, peculiar call to hasten my visit, and as soon 

 as he sees me coming he spreads out his wings 

 till he appears four or five times his real bulk, 

 and lowers his head in readiness to pounce on 

 a mouse or a piece of beef as soon as I present it, 

 but after being fed he resumes silence. 



The species included in the keeper's vermin list 

 afford to the lover of nature some of the most 

 interesting studies in our native wild life, and they 

 ought not to be ruthlessly subjected to persecu- 

 tion as they are, especially as, in the case of the 

 kestrel and the owls, the birds do more good than 

 harm. 



46, Cumberland Street, Edinburgh ; 

 January yth, 1897. 



A Whale at Boscombe. — A correspondent 

 writes : ' ' Private enterprise, especially when directed 

 in the cause of Science, deserves a better fate than 

 befell Dr. Simpson, of Bournemouth. Buying a 

 whale, in his case, proved a very serious matter. A 

 dead whale, measuring 65 feet in length and 24 feet 

 in girth, and weighing nearly 40 tons, was washed 

 ashore at Boscombe early in January. On in- 

 vestigation it was proved that the death of the 

 huge creature was due to having its back broken, 

 in all probability by contact with some vessel in the 

 open sea. The carcase, believed to be the largest 

 ever landed on the local coast, was sold by auction 

 at the instruction of the Receiver of Wrecks. The 

 sale attracted a large number of persons. The 

 bidding was not very brisk. The opinion was 

 that the Bournemouth Town Council would them- 

 selves purchase the carcase with a view to ha\ ing it 

 preserved in a local museum, but unfortunately 

 there is no such institution at present in the town, 

 so the bidding was left to private individuals, and 

 the whale was knocked down to Dr. Simpson, of 

 Bournemouth, when the bid had reached £2". 

 But the creature soon brought trouble to the 

 doctor. The removal of the skeleton from the 

 beach, so as to provide for its permanent preserva- 

 tion, did not prove so easy as the buying, and 

 before any attempt could be made for its removal 

 the whale underwent changes that made the 

 carcase a nuisance to the town, so much so 

 that the sanitary authorities bestirred themselves. 

 Dr. Simpson will in all probability be anxious 

 to forget the incident ; at any rate he deserves 

 forgetfulness of the oftending carcase, whilst it 

 remains to be hoped that its scattered bones will 

 be brought together as a complete skeleton for the 

 benefit of posterity." 



