72 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
and the wing cases of beetles. An official at the British Museum
identified the pellets as those of the buzzard.
On February 8th, 1926, I heard a buzzard's mewing cry
from trees at the far end of Gilwell Park. It was foggy, and
I could not see the bird. In the afternoon beneath one of the
trees we found three large pellets, similar to those of 1924.
From then till the 22nd I constantly heard the mewing cry from
over the West Essex Golf Links and Barn Hill. On the 22nd
I flushed the bird at the entrance to Gilwell Lane. It flew
low and I noted the dark-brown plumage. It flew over Farmer
Bird's fields to Hawksmouth. On the 28th Mrs. Boyd Watt
and I watched it leave Gilwell Park and fly towards Barn Hill.
It circled for twenty minutes and as we listened to its mewing
cry we heard distinct answers from a more distant buzzard.
From March 2nd I neither saw nor heard it.
On March 20th, 1927, I watched a buzzard soaring very
high above the Camp Chief's house in Gilwell Park. On
March 21st, 1930, I found five of the large pellets under an oak
in Gilwell Park. They sufficed to show that the bird had once
more visited the locality.
Kestrel. This is a common hawk in the district and may
be seen daily. In January, 1927, when extensive alterations
were in progress in the drainage arrangements in the Scouts'
camping fields, a Kestrel might be seen from morning till night,
hovering and watching for rats.
Cuckoo. This bird is very common in Gilwell Park and
I have frequently seen four and even more at a time during the
mating season. In June, 1924, a young cuckoo was reared
by hedge-sparrows in my garden hedge. The foster parents
brought through their second brood safely. I have several
times seen young cuckoos in robins' nests in this district.
Great Spotted Woodpecker nests in Gilwell Park, as
well as in most parts of the Forest. The loud vibrating rattle
by which it makes its presence unmistakeably known, is not
solely a nuptial call, for I have heard and recorded it in my
card index in every month of the year. It is so frequently given,
especially on sunny days, that I incline to Mr. Coward's opinion
that it represents the song of the bird. I have often watched
the sound being produced by means of extraordinarily rapid
blows with the bill on a small finger-like branch of a Scots Pine.