274 president's address. 



In one of the remote Cumberland valleys we found the 

 Nightjar very numerous, but apparently it had not yet com- 

 menced to nest. The voice of the Cuckoo was heard in every 

 direction. Wheatears flitted from almost every pile of stones, 

 and the Grey Wagtail was numerous by the sides of all the 

 streams. We accompanied one of the gamekeepers for some 

 distance along the banks of a stream, and then we began a 

 very steep ascent, principally over large and small blocks of 

 stone which had fallen from the cliffs above. After a fatiguing 

 walk and climb we reached the bottom of a perpendicular 

 cliff, probably 60 or 70 feet high. About half way up on a 

 ledge was the first nest of the Common Buzzard I have seen. 

 It consisted of heather, and was about i-ft. 5-in. across. In 

 the cup lay two very large but exceedingly plain eggs almost 

 without markings, and these were just about hatching. One 

 of the shells was chipped, and the young bird would no doubt 

 have emerged in an hour or two. Overhead the two parent 

 birds circled, uttering their cries of distress, alarm and anger 

 all blended. Noble looking birds they were, and I but wished 

 I could have exercised some control over their fate. The 

 keeper was there, however, as he considered, in the discharge 

 of his duty, which was, as he termed it himself, to exterminate 

 all birds " that didn't behave themselves." The birds, which 

 had been shot at before unsuccessfully, had left the nest and 

 soared too high in the air to enable him to shoot them ; but 

 his mission was at the earliest possible opportunity to destroy 

 both young and old birds, and I was helpless to interfere. 

 From the keeper's own account I could not ascertain that 

 even to the game preserver these birds ever did very much 

 harm. An occasional young game bird is no doubt some- 

 times taken, but almost the whole of the food of the Buzzard 

 is very similar to that of the Kestrel. 



On Wednesday, the 25th of June, 1902, I paid a visit to the 

 Fame Islands. I ascertained that the Water Hen had the 

 previous year nested on the Islands. This I believe is the 

 first occurrence of this bird as a nesting species. My visit 



