162 



Wheldon : Slow-worm near Silverdale. 



used to be astonished at its numbers, even in London itself,, 

 where, no doubt, it was a useful scavenger.' And I can recall 

 the time in the ' thirties ' and ' forties ' of the last century, and 

 even later, when these noble birds could be seen every day 

 round Lincoln, and in the fenland to the west. I have twice 

 seen one fly up out of my father's garden in Lincoln (the house 

 was then on the outskirts of the city, but is now surrounded by 

 building's), and I have seen as many as six or more circling" 

 round the broad tower of the Cathedral. I have watched them 

 hawking, from side to side, over the tall Lincolnshire hedge- 

 rows, and flying low over the fen-dykes. I remember once, in 

 a wood near Langworth, seeing one on the branch of a tree, 

 within twenty yards of the road, as I was riding past ; and, well 

 aware that I could not injure it, though I shouted at it to make 

 it fly, it refused to move. No doubt its nest was not far off. 

 The last I saw alive was mewed up in a cage hung outside one 

 of the bouses in the Castle-dykings at Lincoln, looking proudly 

 defiant, but still very sad. And now, alas ! all are gone ; 

 sacrificed to the collector and game-preserver, and to the 

 insatiate, untaxed gunner of those days, for the sake of their 

 money value, which increased more and more as the birds 

 got scarcer. 



To own the Twigmoor Gullery is a treasure of no mean 

 value ; but, in addition, to have an Osprey on your estate, and 

 to be able to watch it dashing on the water for its prey — with 

 the chance of it staying, as, let alone, it might have done — 

 would be a unique possession indeed. When will gamekeepers 

 allow rare birds to live? The ansv/er is plain : when the land- 

 owners and game-preservers — who have the matter in their 

 own hands — insist on their lives being spared ; and when that 

 time arrives, then Osprey and Golden Oriole, Peregrine and 

 Buzzard, with many other rare birds will be amongst us again ; 

 and, surely, the pleasure of seeing such birds and observing their 

 habits would more than compensate for the loss of a few 

 pheasants and partridges ! Scawby woods make eloquent 

 protest on the birds' behalf; and, as there, so everywhere, 

 may the golden day of light and mercy speedily come. 



NOTE on REPTILES. 

 Slow-worm near Silverdale, West Lanes.— I captured a fine 



example of the Slow-worm {Angnis fragilis) basking- in the sunshine in 

 a wood on Trowbarrow, near Silverdale, on the i ith inst. — J. A. Wheldon, 

 Liverpool, 14th May io,or. 



Naturalist, 



