20 British Birds of Prey. [Sess. 



111.— BRITISH BIRDS OF PREY. 



By Mr TOM SPEEDY. 



{Read Bee. 18, 1907.) 



In giving a paper on British birds of prey, I purpose treating 

 only of those that have come under my own observation, and 

 of which I have had some experience. These are the golden 

 eagle, the buzzard, the peregrine falcon, the sparrow-hawk, the 

 kestrel, the merlin, the barn owl, the tawny owl, the long- 

 eared owl, and the short-eared owl. There are others which 

 I have seen, but rarely, and as I know nothing 'of their 

 habits except what I have read, I do not include them in this 

 paper. 



First, then, as to the golden eagle. He stands at the head 

 of the list of our British birds of prey. Yerily his muscular 

 power, splendid proportions, and true dignity mark him out as 

 the king of birds. Ancient books on hawking assign to the 

 different ranks of persons the sort of hawk proper to be used 

 by them, and the first on the list is " the eagle for an 

 emperor." It is not now nearly so plentiful as it was in my 

 younger days, as at that time I saw several daily hovering 

 round the base of Ben-a-vachert, in Inverness-shire, in pursuit 

 of rabbits, which swarmed in that district. They are still, 

 however, far from being scarce, and in many of these once 

 barren waste lands, now afforested, they are allowed to 

 harbour and breed without molestation. There is no fear of 

 them becoming extinct, as the streak of sea between Norway 

 and the north of Scotland may be regarded as nothing to the 

 wing of the eagle. My reason for hazarding this statement is 

 in consequence of a Caithness keeper of my acquaintance 

 securing a number in traps set for other vermin, but which 

 the eagles blundered into on their arrival in that level 

 country, prior to repairing to their natural haunts, the moun- 

 tainous districts of Sutherlandshire and Eoss-shire. 



We have Scriptural warrant that man was to have dominion 

 over the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air ; and we 

 have it on the authority of Sir William Jardine, in his 



