8 The, Naturalist in Siluria. 



these too-industrious insects. la the woods I occasion- 

 ally hear the tap-tapping of his two. cousins, the great 

 and little-spotted woodpeckers (P. vwjor and P. minor) ; 

 but these are much rai-er in the neighbourhood. Xofc so 

 the magpie, here only too plentiful. He hops about 

 among the tall fir-trees where ho has nested, or makes 

 descent upon the grass pastures, at intervals alighting ou 

 the lawn to pick up some morsel that may there have 

 caught his eye. But the cunning chatterer remains only 

 a moment ; for he has been guilty of: " fowl " play in the 

 poultry-yard, and, knowing it, dreads my gun. Out in 

 the fields the carrion crow [Corvus corone), also a foe to 

 the chirping chicks, stalks majestically, grubbing among 

 mole-heaps and the deposits of animal ordure, also gob- 

 bling up field-mice ; while his cousirfs-german, the rook 

 and jackdaw, more satisfied with a vegetable diet, seek 

 it everywhere over the ploughed and pasture lands, in 

 concert, and consorting with, clouds of starlings. 



Of birds more properly called predatory there is no 

 scarcity here. The sparrow-hawk courses low along the 

 hedges; while the kestrel, of bolder flight, hovers aloft, 

 as if suspended on an invisible string, at intervals chang- 

 ing his point of aeriel observation, to hover again, or 

 swoop down upon the prey he has :marked for a meal. 

 The buzzard (Faico buteo) is not unfrequently seen soaring 

 over Penyard's wooded hill, and also the peregrine falcon 

 (F. pereijiiiius),vf\ii\e the great kite (J', milviis) is a less 

 frequent visitor. Nor are the little merlin (F. cesalon), the 

 hobby {F. subbuteo), the hen-harrier {F. cyaiieus), and 

 even the honey buzzard [F. apivovous) uukuown to our 

 neighbourhood. 



The night birds of prey aro here represented by the 

 tawny and barn owls {Strix stridula and 8. flam))ie)i), 



