1891.
July 2
(No 8)
England.
Tintern. - Cliff near where we were standing. It is the
only one that they have seen for years. The Carrion Crows
are common still and are very destructive. The
worst Hawk is the "Blue Hawk". The Sparrow Hawk
is also very bad and the Kestrel by no means harmless.
They shot nine Hawks, mostly young birds, in one
larch plantation last summer. The greater number
are taken in steel traps placed on the tops of poles.
Some keepers use a net which is strung across a
"ride" (wood path) so as to fall & entangle the Hawk
when he strikes against it. The Magpies are left
until the young are nearly able to fly when the
parents are ambushed and shot and the young
either killed or taken alive and sold. It was to
me an interesting commentary on the subject in
hand that, while we were discussing it the Kestrels
were flying about nearly within gunshot and every
now and then a Jay screaming or flitting across an
opening. I called the keepers attention to both
birds but he merely remarked that he would
have the greater part of them before the summer
was over. He spoke of all "vermin" with a quiet
but intense hatred and evidently would have 
been a difficult subject for Dr. Warren to convert.
He reminded me forcibly of a Maine trapper
and was evidently in many ways quite as 
keen an observer and good a woodsman.
When he finally left me, after pocketing my
sixpence with the usual English raising of the
forefinger to the cap, he plunged at once into
the bushes and disappeared as swiftly & silently as
he came.