22 BREEDING OF THE KITE AND BUZZARD IN ESSEX.
at so late a date. Finally, there is the undeniable fact that the
neighbourhood of Maldon is decidedly favourable for the breeding
of the Kite, owing to the existence of large woods at Hazeleigh,
Langford. Totham, and elsewhere.
In regard to the Buzzard, we find3 that it seems always to
have been commoner with us than the Kite, and to have con-
tinued to breed here in some numbers up to a later date—in fact,
up to about 1835. It occurs in the county to-day, as a casual
visitor, very much more often than the Kite ; and, of course, it
still breeds in some numbers in certain parts of Britain, while
the Kite is on the very verge of extinction as a breeding species.
On the whole, it seems more likely that the Buzzard may have
bred at Purleigh in 1865 than that the Kite should have bred in
the same neighbourhood eleven years earlier. At the same
time, it must be confessed that I know of no oilier records of the
Buzzard breeding anywhere else in Essex at so late a date or
even within the preceding quarter of a century.
In this connection, it is perhaps worth remembering that
another interesting species, now extinct with us—namely the
Raven—continued to breed in the neighbourhood in question
(that of Maldon) until a very late date —namely, till about 1889,
when the bird had long ceased to breed in any south-eastern
county. The whole of the district lying around Maldon and'
adjacent to both the north and south shores of the Blackwater
Estuary is not only thinly inhabited and (for Essex) very lightly
cultivated, but is also somewhat difficult of access, owing to the
number of creeks and arms of the sea to be crossed ; while,
until the last fifteen or twenty years it was still more
inaccessible, owing to the lack of railway facilities.
In this connection, I may well quote from Mr. Aplin's recent
letters to me :—
I do not at all see [he writes] why both birds should not have bred in Essex
at the dates named. So few people took any interest in such things then that,
when a bird became rare, the few remaining pairs easily escaped notice. Not
enough allowance has been made for this. I believe that kites and buzzards
may well have lingered in English haunts for years after they were (or, rather,
are now) supposed to have become extinct there. Our evidence on the point is
all negative ; and, if we admit that hardly any of the people who have left
evidence ever took the trouble to search out the few remaining pairs of a bird,
we cannot avoid the conclusion that our data of extinction are not worth much.
. . . There is nothing . . . [in the records we have] to show that [say]
3 See Birds of Essex, p. 164.