Don Baccus writes:

> Part may be due to heritage. England, at least (don't know about
> Scotland) has a long heritage that natural history is something done
> by amateurs with the wealth (and, perhaps to a lesser extent today
> than in past centuries)

Reminds me of an (non-ornithological) observation in Scotland two yeras ago.
While visiting Loch Garten RSPB Wildlife Reserve (where an Osprey is closely
monitored during all the breeding season), I was quite surprised to see
a Jaguar in the parking lot!!!

I've never seen such a thing in France, and don't think it is very likely
to happen in Canada and the US either...

--
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A bird in the bush is better than two in the hand.

Serge Le Huitouze Intelligent Software Group
email: serge at cs.sfu.ca School of Computing Science
tel: (604) 291-5423 Simon Fraser University
fax: (604) 291-3045 Burnaby, B.C., V5A 1S6 CANADA
http://www.isg.sfu.ca/~serge/