20 BREEDING OF THE KITE AND BUZZARD IN ESSEX.
Of the two Buzzard's eggs, Mr. Aplin wrote :—
Only one Buzzard's egg is inscribed. It bears a printed label with the words
"Common Buzzard," and is inscribed, in a very neat handwriting, "Purleigh,
Essex, 1865." It is moderately marked in the usual Buzzard fashion. The
other egg has [apparently] nothing at all to do with the inscribed one. It has no
mark [i.e., inscription] except a faint pencil one, which I cannot make out, either
on or under a small bit of thin paper. I think I shall take this off and see if any-
thing is hidden. The egg is a very curious long-shaped one and is very heavily
marked—a very fine egg indeed, but I never saw a Buzzard's egg shaped like it.
I may add that the handwriting on the inscribed egg appears
to be the same as that on the kites' eggs, though it has points of
difference. This egg bears also an inscription in pencil, but so
faint as to be almost wholly illegible. It commences with a P;:
then follow two letters which look like ru or ur ; after which are
either two or three letters which are wholly illegible ; and finally
there is a letter which looks like o or a, The word looks a good
deal like "Prussia," but might almost as well be "Purleigh."
From the other egg, the small piece of thin paper (apparently the
remains of a label pasted on) was afterwards removed and
the faint pencil inscription mentioned by Mr. Aplin proves to be
written on the egg and to be either an E or a 3, according
to which way up it is read. All four eggs are neatly blown
with side holes, as though done by an expert and experienced
collector.
Having learned this much about the eggs, I thought it high
time to endeavour to ascertain something as to their history. I
soon learned that they had been put into the sale through
Messrs. Watkins and Doncaster, the well-known naturalists,
of the Strand. These gentlemen were good enough to inform
me that the eggs came from an old collection belonging to
Mr. John Pratt, of Catesby House, Lapworth, near Birmingham,
head of the firm of Pratt and Co., accountants, of George Street,
Hanover Square, W., who had forwarded them for sale. I
communicated at once with Mr. Pratt, who was kind enough to
take some considerable trouble in obtaining for me the following
information:—
The eggs were collected by a Mr. John Scott, whom Mr. Pratt
describes as "a naturalist of some note fifty years ago." It is his
(Scott's) handwriting which appears, as mentioned above, upon
the eggs. On his death, his collection of stuffed birds and birds'
eggs passed to his son, who was a friend of Mr. Pratt's business