Page:VCH Bedfordshire 1.djvu/160

 A HISTORY OF BEDFORDSHIRE 102. Kite. Milvus ictinus, Savigny. Evidently by no means a rare nesting species in the county during the early years of the past century, but it must have been exterminated soon afterwards, for no recent record can be traced of this bird even as a visitant with us. The only two instances that can be given arc one shot at Bromham Park some time in the ' thirties,' and another some few years afterwards in Cleat Lane near Clapham Wood. An old gamekeeper named Goodliff assured me that in his early days (about 1 8 13) both the kite and buzzard built fairly commonly in the woods at Keysoe and Bushmead, and he had often taken the eggs of both species. Another keeper said it formerly nested in the woods around Haynes. Mr. J. King from another old informant learned that it once nested in a row of elm trees between Langford and Holme, and he says his father could remember this bird occasionally being seen at Southill. Mr. A. Covington reports it as formerly nesting around Bolnhurst and Keysoe, where his uncle knew it well and had taken its eggs, and also reared young birds from the nest. A pair built a nest in Silsoe Woods, but both were destroyed. 103. Honey-Buzzard. Pernis apivorus (Linn.) A rare summer visitant ; it probably nested in limited numbers in former years. About 1852 a honey-buzzard was caught in a ver- min trap in the woods at Haynes Park, and is now stuffed and in possession of the owner of the property {Naturalist, B. R. Morris, 1855). In June 1871 a female was taken at Silsoe, and eggs as large as sloes were found in the ovaries. Its crop contained grass- hoppers and other insects [Zoologist). A very dark female in the writer's possession was shot at Warden Warren 27 May 1874. On 2 October 1883 one was shot at Harrold and passed through the hands of Mr. A. Covington. A female that I recently examined was ob- tained at Potton Wood 8 June 1901. 104. Peregrine Falcon. Fako peregrinus, Tunstall. This bird is a regular winter visitor to our county, occurring most frequently from No- vember till February, and in single instances only as early as August and as late as April. Seldom a year passes without reports of one or more being seen or killed. Most examples are in immature plumage. 105. Hobby. Fako subbuteo, Linn. This bird formerly nested in Keysoe Wood; the last pair that frequented Bromham Park were shot from the nest by the keeper in June 1865. About 1880 a nest of young was taken at Colmworth, and passed into the hands of Mr. Bryant, poulterer, Bedford. According to Mr. P. Addington it used to nest regularly in Colmworth Wood, utilizing the crows' old nests. A former keeper at Odell Wood shot three young hobbies just after leaving their nest, one of which I have seen ; and I was told by Gell, the present gamekeeper, that about 1883, when first he came to Odell Woods, he set traps in the various crows' nests, and once caught a hobby in a small wood by the road ; during the afternoon of the same day he shot another close by. He also informed me that his father had two specimens set up in a case, which were shot near Knotting Wood. The most recent records of the hobby nesting in Bedfordshire occurred in the woods adjacent to Turvey Park on the Stagsden side. In 1890 Cowley, a working man with a good knowledge of local birds, took four eggs from a wood close to Turvey Park ; in 1891 Mr. D. Campbell took three, and on 31 May 1892 he and Mr. A. F. Crossman took four more from a plantation in the same locality ; in each case the nest of the carrion crow had been adopted. The female of a pair in the woods at Turvey was killed in 1897. Mr. J. King mentions that the last instance of the hobby near Langford was in 1894, and gives the following records in that neighbourhood : one shot on 16 September 1853, another a week later ; one on 18 May 1854, and one on 22 September 1891. In 1901 one was trapped in a wood near Podington. 106. Merlin. Fako asalon, Tunstall. A scarce winter visitant, and of far more frequent occurrence years ago, when several might have been observed at the local taxi- dermist's shop. Now a year or so may pass without even one being recorded. Immature birds are far commoner than adults, and occur throughout the winter months. The parish of Elstow seems always to have been the principal locality in which this bird has been obtained. Mr. A. Covington states that about twenty-five years ago he received as many as three in one week from that place. The following are some of the most recent occur- rences : At Elstow in 1889, on 30 January 1897, and in September 1898, also in Novem- ber 1901 and January 1902; at Renhold close to the river about 1888 ; at Harrowden in April 1890 and on 10 November 1891 ; at Felmersham on 24 February 1894 ; at Ncwnham on the sewage farm in October 1894; at Cardington on 29 October 1897 and at Tingrith about 1898. 20