lxxiv Journal of Proceedings.
"Forty years ago Mr. Travis himself, then a resident close to the
aviary at Audley End, was sitting at breakfast one morning during the
last half of September, when he saw a large hawk fly by, and, following
it immediately with his gun, soon shot it as it sat upon a tree. No par-
ticulars seem to have been preserved with respect to it, but it was probably
an old bird, as Mr. Travis remembers having noticed the bright yellow of
its eye as it lay upon the ground. Shortly after, perhaps a week or a
fortnight, a man named Colman, a brickmaker, shot another almost
exactly at the same spot. Mr. Travis stuffed them both ; the first is now
in Lord Braybrooke's fine collection, but the second has been sent to the
North of England. Mr. Travis further says that nearly fifty years ago
another was shot at Newport, but that now-a-days individuals are exceed-
ingly few and far between in this district. He also wishes me to mention
that three years ago he stuffed for Lord Braybrooke, in whose collection
it now is, a splendid Kite which had been trapped by Chandler, the head-
keeper, on the edge of Pounce Hall Wood, about a mile from Saffron
Walden.
" As already mentioned, a most unusual number of the larger hawks,
principally Honey Buzzards, have been killed since the middle of Sep-
tember—three numbers alone of the ' Field,' which appeared lately,
making mention of about fifty ; some in the northern counties, but by far
the greater number in the eastern counties, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk,
—while many more are doubtless only recorded in local newspapers and
other ephemeral publications. It seems that Buzzards and many of the
other Hawks are only summer visitants to this country and that they are
generally seen at the times of their spring and autumn migration—rarely
during the spring, as they then mostly go north by some other route ;
but in the autumn they are more frequently observed, because both old
and young birds are moving, and for some reason or other their path
then lies through England. It would be interesting to have the opinion
of our member Mr. Harting, or some other competent person, on the
cause of their appearance this autumn in such very unusual numbers.
" I am but too well aware that it is perfectly useless to make a merely
verbal protest against the shooting of these interesting and much abused
birds, which are so rapidly being exterminated for purely selfish reasons,
or no reason at all. In most eases they are killed by ignorant game-
keepers, though, in the case of the Honey Buzzards, which have come in
for such particularly rough usage this year, there can surely be no hawks
which are less destructive to game. If we wish to do anything in this
matter we must agitate for a serviceable ' Wild Birds' Protection Act,'
framed by practical ornithologists, and not by game-preserving landlords,
or mere lawyers, unacquainted with the necessities and facts of the case.
The present act is incapable of effecting much good in a matter in which
all lovers of Nature are so deeply interested ; it can be evaded with little
fear of detection, and it leaves our raptorial birds at the mercy of the
landowners to be destroyed at all stages of their life in the supposed
interests of their selfish pleasures. Although scarcely a year old it has
already been amended by another Act, and even now it is practically little
better than the three miserably inoperative pieces of legislation it was
intended to supersede and improve. I rejoice to hear that there is one
district in Essex at least where such a pleasing and harmless bird as our
Honey Buzzard may show itself without fear of being shot down : long
may the Conservators of Epping Forest enforce and extend their enlight-
ened protection of the innocents."
Mr. W. White recorded the occurrence of another Honey Buzzard in
Essex. The bird was caught on the morning of 24th September, 1881,