NOTES AND QUERIES. 271 
were obtained just after he left. I have never known so many Pere- 
grines nesting before. It is remarkable how they keep near the same 
locality year after year, though not the exact spot, doubtless owing 
to persecution. The pair I visited on the 14th had their eggs taken 
(four in number) last year, but through building about one hundred 
yards away this year are secure from egg-stealers. I know of two 
pairs of Buzzards building in woods, one wood being very small 
indeed. They have built in the same wood for about seven or eight 
years, but in the larger wood this is the first time. I climbed up to one, 
and found two very young birds and one egg unhatched in the 
middle of May. The remains of a rabbit were at the side of the nest. 
Thaye climbed up to the three different nests built by these birds during 
the above years many times, and have invariably found some portion 
of a rabbit in the nest. During this spring most of the tall trees in 
this wood have been cut down, including the one they built on last 
year, and now there are not more than three trees of sufficient size 
for the big birds to build upon. They have chosen one standing by 
itself. During this spring I have seen at least a dozen pairs of 
Buzzards. Many of their nests are inaccessible, so there is no likeli- 
hood of the bird being exterminated in Cornwall for many a long day 
to come. This is more than can be said of the much rarer Peregrine, 
both because of the destruction they do amongst the chickens and the 
keen demand for their eggs. Peregrines are distinguished as “ Blue 
Hawks” by the local people, whilst Buzzards are called “Kits.’’ 
Few sights give me so much pleasure as watching a pair of Pere- 
grines. What marvellous powers of flight! They often stoop to 
Buzzards, their object being to drive them away, and will constantly 
fly at them till this result has been achieved. — H. P. O. CuEAve 
(18, Leigham Street, Plymouth). 
The “Drumming” of the Snipe. — In his valuable paper on the 
“bleating” or “drumming” of the Snipe, published in a late number 
of the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society, Mr. P. H. Bahr 
relates his observation, believing it to be new, that during the 
“bleating ” the two outer tail-feathers are spread well in front of the 
other twelve so as to stand quite apart from them, and comes to the 
conclusion that by this means the “drumming” is produced. Per- 
haps I may be allowed to point out that I made a precisely similar 
observation many years ago (June, 1889) in Selkirkshire, and in a 
note sent to this Journal at the time (Zool. 1889, p. 315) recording 
the fact, suggested that it might have to do with the production of the 
sound. A sketch of the “drumming” Snipe which I made on the 
