Tales of Old

A good freind has lent me an old leather bound copy of " An Illustrated Manual of British Birds" by Howard Saunders (1889) and it makes interesting reading. In those days Leica and Swarovski must have served the avid birder with firearms rather than optics !

The entry for The Common Buzzard reads as follows :-

As regards the British Islands, the epithet "common" is annually becoming less and less applicable to this species; but there are wild and wooded districts in England - especially on the western side - and in Wales, where the bird may still be seen circling high in air, and be heard uttering it's plaintive mewing cry. Fifty years ago it used to breed in Norfolk and in other counties abounding with partridges and grouse-game, without being considered incompatible with their existence; but with the increase of Pheasant-worship the doom of the Buzzard sealed, for the larger the "Hawk" the worse it must necessarily be !

And 150 years later the contest continues but the trusty Buzzard is bouncing back. Long may it last.

And here is what Saunders has to say about the Eagle Owl :-

Occurrences in Great Britain of this large and handsome species have from time to time been recorded; but some of these are known - while others may be suspected - to refer to examples which have escaped from that semi-captivity in which this Owl is often kept. Birds which were probably genuine migrants from Northern Europe have, however, been obtained, at long intervals, in the Orkney and Shetland Islands and on the mainland of Scotland; while in England, besides other records, a female showed no sign of having been in confinement was shot near Stamford in Lincolnshire, in April 1879.

And for the Great Auk whose demise was tracked in 1840 as follows :-

Mr Henry Evans, who has repeatedly visted the St Kilda group, has collected strong evidence that about 1840 a bird was secured on the grassy slopes of Stack-an-Armin, being killed three days afterwards as a witch, in consequence of a storm which frightened it's captors !