573 
ill iiumbLi. Of course, iii some cases, the force of circuiiistaiices, 
by winch I would include drainage and the better cultivation of 
land, has driven some species from localities which they formerly 
inhabited. l!ut the root of the evil is the insatiable greed of 
collectors ; and, as the result of that, the ridiculously fancy prices * 
attached to home-killed specimens, and authenticated home-laid 
eggs. As also the much to be deplored system of some collectors, 
who have no conscience, of offering to local men such a price to 
collect eggs, which it would be more than human nature for them 
to resist, and then using such eggs for the purpose of c.Kcliaiige 
and barter. ° 
A\'c have had an example of this during the last year, whicli 
must have made the blood of every .\orfolk lover of birds to 
boil. It seems that a pair of .Alontagu’s ]rarricr.s, trusting to the 
history of their ancestors, fixed upon the county of Norfolk as 
a lit locality for their spring and summer residence. This becoming 
known to a blood-thirsty riilHan of the genus insatiable, nothing 
short of robbery and murder would satisfy him. So, waiting till 
the old bird had laid her eggs, and begun to set on them, 
knowing that, at that time, Airs. iMontagu would be less suspicious 
and more easily approached, he planned and carried out his cowardly 
assault. Mrs. IMontagu, bleeding and wounded, T believe, escaped 
his clutches ; but, of course, the nest was sacrificed. I think the 
lovers ot Nature in Norfolk should most emphatically protest 
against this unwarrantable intrusion by an outsider; and that all 
such destroyers should, by force of public opinion, be made to 
feel that, if they cannot enjoy the works of Nature themselves, 
they have no business to prevent others from doiim so. 
ri'i ® * 
iho Harriers— how different from the time when Lubbock 
described the Afarsli Harrier as the Norfolk Hawk .'—are becoming 
more and more scarce. No doubt the increase of drainage has a 
good deal to do with this. 
bince writing the above, I fiave seen an account of tlie sale of 
Mr. Harper’s collection of British Aloths and Butterflies, at which one 
specimen realized £13 : and a single series of the common Ti^er Aloth 
soM for £90. ® 
