THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



269 



known to devour its own species, yet these 

 are exceptional cases, its staple food consist- 

 ing of field-mice, frogs, newts, and snakes, 

 as well as small animals and large insects, 

 with which latter it chiefly supplies her young. 

 On this account it should be encouraged 

 rather than persecuted, as it renders great 

 service to the farmer, and does little injury, 

 if any, to the game preserver. 



In Confinement this bird is often made 

 a pet, those becoming most docile and tame 

 which are taken from the nest when young 

 and reared by hand. Even when allowed 

 their liberty, they will return to be fed, and 

 have even been known to bring a partner. 

 One pair is recorded as having bred in cap- 

 tivity . Hancock states that he could never 

 teach it to fly at birds, probably because 

 these do not form its natural food. 



Habitat. — This bird seems to be a com- 

 mon species, perhaps the most common 

 Hawk, in all parts of Britain, except the 

 extreme south-west of England ; but like all 

 other birds of prey, it is much scarcer than 

 it was formerly. 



Abroad it is found in almost all parts 

 of Europe ; also in some parts of Asia and 

 Africa. 



Nest.— a rock side or face of a sea cliff 

 is frequently selected as a site for the nest 

 More often, however, it is placed in a tree, 

 or on the old nest of a crow or magpie, 

 which is repaired. Several cases are on 

 record of its having built in hollow trees, 

 and on church steeples and old ruins. The 

 nest is very loosely put together, made of 

 sticks and lined with some softer substance, 

 such as grass or wool. 



EggS. — From four to six eggs are laid 

 early in the season, generally before the end 

 of March or early in April. The ground 

 colour is greyish or yellowish white with 

 dark red blotches. Sometimes the ground 

 colour is red-brown, spotted and smeared 

 with darker colour. 



The Varieties of the egg sometimes occur 

 dirty white without any red blotches or 

 stains. One is recorded in the Zoologist, 

 vol. viii, p. 7640, as being pure white. 



Figs. 1 and 2 are from specimens in my 

 own collection, taken in Yorkshire. Figs. 

 3 and 4 are from drawings kindly furnished 

 by Mrs. Battersby, of Cromlyn, Ireland. 



BRITISH REPTILES. 



In your article on British Reptiles, in the 

 Young Naturlist, page 212, it is stated that 

 Grey's banded Newt (Ommatotriton vittatus) 

 had been met with near London, and that 

 the specimens were in the British Museum. 

 I might say that the same species is also 

 described in " Cooke's British Reptiles." 



According to Vol. iii. of the " Zoologist," 

 page 61, it appears that Grey's Banded Newt 

 (0. vittatus) may altogether be removed from 

 the British catalogue. 



It was first introduced into the British 

 list by Jenyn's, in 1855, on the faith of some 

 specimens found in a bottle in the British 

 Museum, by the late Dr. Grey, which being 

 associated with some British Newts, were 

 supposed to have been obtained in the 

 neighbourhood of London. 



Through a somewhat similar error, some 

 specimens in the Jarden des Plantes, at 

 Paris, were believed by Valenciennes to 

 have been obtained in France, near Soul ; 

 and other examples were supposed to have 

 been found living at Antwerp. It has thus 

 come to pass that naturalists, copying one 

 from another, have assigned England, 

 France, and Belgium as localities for this 

 Newt. It now turns out, from M. Lataste's 

 researches, that all these localities are 

 erroneous, and that the so-called vittatus is 

 no other than Triton Ophryticus of Berthold, 

 an Eastern species found in Syria and Asia 

 Minor. The British Newts are therefore 

 reduced to three in number. — H. T. Soppitt. 



