Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/304

272 the following extract:—"Two very large Kites flew into the area between the cliffs, from over the top to the right, and magnificently and gracefully sported: it was what a dance on wings may be imagined to be by free creatures in their utmost joy. After a while another swept over the opposite cliff, and came sailing in his glory among them; and they joined, varied their figure, and performed a wonderful ballet. Sometimes they seemed burlesquing what we have seen in a theatre, retreating and coming in again, and with a new vagary. We afterwards learnt that these creatures are remarkably fine, and peculiar to the place." It would be interesting to know whether the statement as to the birds in question having a distinct peculiarity is founded upon facts. If it be, and their descendants are of a similar type, it makes the miserable persecution to which they are subjected and their imminent extinction all the more deplorable. Some twenty-five years ago or more I saw, in an aviary in a garden near Beddgelert, a Buzzard that had been taken from the rocks above Pont Aberglaslyn. I was greatly struck by the size of the bird, so much larger, at least so it seemed to me, than any mounted or living specimens I had ever seen.— (Nutfield, Watford).

Disappearance of the Lapwing in North Lincolnshire.—This bird (Vanellus vulgaris) has practically disappeared as a resident species; each year they have got scarcer, and at the present time I do not think there is a single pair nesting in the parish or neighbourhood. Not many years since a pair or two might be found in almost every field, and a considerable number of young were hatched and got away. One of the most familiar sounds on warm spring nights used to be the calling of the Peewits in the low grounds and marshes. Now all is changed, and we only know it in varying numbers as a spring and autumn migrant. I attribute its disappearance to several causes,—the netting of the old resident stock in the winter, the persistent plundering of the nests by egg-gatherers, also the destruction of the eggs by Carrion Crows and Rooks, but especially the latter. Another reason probably is the conversion of much of the arable land into permanent pasture. I should like to know if the Lapwing has become scarce in other localities in the country where once common. — (Great Cotes House, R.S.O. Lincoln).

Birds which nest in London.—I hoped that Mr. Meade King's communication (ante, p. 189) would have elicited some information as to the alleged recent nesting of the Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus phragmitis) by the Serpentine. For a good many years past I have walked down the whole length of the Serpentine early in the morning on six days out of every seven, during eleven months in each year, solely for the purpose of observing birds; in spring and summer I often do so twice a day. Moreover, many