272 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the following extract :—‘ Two very large Kites flew into the area between 
the cliffs, from over the top to the right, and magnificently and gracefully 
sported; it was what a dance on wings may be imagined to be by free 
creatures in their utmost joy. After a while another swept over the 
opposite cliff, and came sailing in his glory among them; and they joined, 
varied their figure, and performed a wonderful ballet. Sometimes they 
seemed burlesquing what we have seen in a theatre, retreating and coming 
in again, and with a new vagary. We afterwards learnt that these 
creatures are remarkably fine, and peculiar to the place.” It would be 
interesting to know whether the statement as to the birds in question 
having a distinct peculiarity is founded upon facts. If it be, and their 
descendants are of a similar type, it makes the miserable persecution to 
which they are subjected and their imminent extinction all the more 
deplorable. Some twenty-five years ago or more I saw, in an aviary in a 
garden near Beddgelert, a Buzzard that had been taken from the rocks 
above Pont Aberglaslyn. I was greatly struck by the size of the bird, so 
much larger, at least so it seemed to me, than any mounted or living speci- 
mens I had ever seen.— T. VaucHan Roserts (Nutfield, Watford). 
Disappearance of the Lapwing in North Lincolnshire.—This bird 
(Vanellus vuigaris) has practically disappeared as a resident species; each 
year they have got scarcer, and at the present time I do not think there is 
a single pair nesting in the parish or neighbourhood. Not many years | 
since a pair or two might be found in almost every field, and a considerable 
number of young were hatched and got away. One of the most familiar 
sounds on warm spring nights used to be the calling of the Peewits in the 
low grounds and marshes. Now all is changed, and we only know it in 
varying numbers as a spring and autumn migrant. I attribute its dis- 
appearance to several causes,—the netting of the old resident stock in the 
winter, the persistent plundering of the nests by egg-gatherers, also the 
destruction of the eggs by Carrion Crows and Rooks, but especially the 
latter. Another reason probably is the conversion of much of the arable 
land into permanent pasture. I should like to know if the Lapwing has 
become scarce in other localities in the country where once common.— 
JoHN CoRDEAUX (Great Cotes House, R.S.O. Lincoln). 
Birds which nest in London.—I hoped that Mr. Meade King’s com- 
munication (ante, p. 189) would have elicited some information as to the 
alleged recent nesting of the Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus phragmitis) by 
the Serpentine. For a good many years past I have walked down the whole 
length of the Serpentine early in the morning on six days out of every 
seven, during eleven months in each year, solely for the purpose of observing 
birds ; in spring and summer I often do so twice a day. Moreover, many 
