Fteis«> LUTHER 
Chirps and 
Chatter. 
(3) 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
"23 _ 
1 Sli 
ground, and here the hen lays three or 
four eggs—usually four. The eggs are 
most difficult to discover, and har¬ 
monise in an extraordinary manner with 
their surroundings. Of a huffish ground 
colour, they are very prettily marked 
with spots and blotches of a rich brown¬ 
ish-red, the larger end being more 
thickly covered. As a rule the eggs 
are not so pyriform as those of the 
golden plover or curlew, but vary con¬ 
siderably. The hen is a very close 
sitter, and as long as she thinks you 
have not seen her will sit perfectly 
motionless, crouching low on the nest. 
An Almost Extinct Species. 
It is to be feared that at the present 
date the Fork-tailed Kite has been com¬ 
pletely banished from Scotland as a 
nesting species; but 20 years ago, and 
even less, it nested regularly in some of 
the Scottish deer-forests, and in one 
forest a nest still remains in a large 
pine tree, in a wonderfully good state 
of preservation when one takes into con¬ 
sideration the number of winter gales 
and snowstorms it has withstood. The 
feathers of the Kite, especially the tail 
feathers, were in great request for the 
manufacture of salmon flies, and this 
probably hastened the bird’s extinction, 
as it was regularly trapped by keepers. 
A keeper lately told rather an amusing 
story in this connection. A trap had 
been set, and an unwary Kite was soon 
caught. The keeper, thinking the bird 
was dead, so still did it remain, pulled 
out the tail feathers and threw the bird 
to the ground, where it remained 
motionless. He then turned round for 
a moment, and when he looked back, 
what was his amazement to see the Kite 
rise from the ground and sail off, ap¬ 
parently none the worse for its exciting 
experience! In the mountain districts 
of Wales a few pairs of these birds still 
remain, and, as they are afforded full 
protection during the nesting season, 
they may still retain their hold; but, 
should this protection be removed, in 
a very short time indeed the Kite will 
have gone to swell the already too large 
list of birds which, although once 
numerous in this country, have, mainly 
through the greed of collectors, now 
become extinct as nesting species. 
Strange Geese. 
The Goosander is not an English- 
breeding species, although its nest is 
said to have been found in Scotland. 
It is the largest of the British mergan¬ 
sers ; as large as a moderate-sized 
Goose. It may be said to be a 
winter visitant only, and in many Eng¬ 
lish counties it has never occurred at 
all. It was an altogether unexpected 
pleasure to me, says a Leeds writer, 
therefore, one afternoon in March, 
1888, to find that a pair of Goosanders 
had taken up their quarters on the small 
reservoir at the foot of Battye Wood at 
Headingley. I felt quite certain of 
their identity, for I saw them close at 
hand; but the occurrence was unique, 
and some natural doubt was cast upon 
the accuracy of my diagnosis. How¬ 
ever, they were killed next day and 
taken to the Philosophical Hall, when 
their identity was placed beyond dispute. 
The Extinction of Rare Birds. 
As long as collectors. are willing to 
pay large sums for the eggs of our rarer 
birds, these must surely be banished 
from this country as nesting species. 
Take, for example, the Kite. Although 
not so very long ago a very abundant 
variety of the Hawk family, it has at the 
present day been completely banished 
from Scotland and England as a nesting 
species, and only continues to hold its 
own in Wales on account of the strict 
protection afforded it during the nesting 
season. The Osprey, too, is practically 
extinct in this country, although only a 
year or two ago it was nesting on several 
of our mountain lochs, and the White- 
Tailed' Eagle has shared a similar fate. 
Both these latter birds have also to run 
the gauntlet of numbers of so-called 
sportsmen during the spring and autumn 
migration, who do not scruple to 
“ secure ” any- rare bird they see. The 
Golden Eagle, from the fact that it 
remains among the hills all the year 
round, and also because its eyrie is often 
constructed in inaccessible positions, is, 
we are glad to say, holding its own. 
