Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/323

Rh seen to fly into an old building at Newtimber, in the same county, and being taken alive was sent to Pratt, at Brighton, from whom I obtained it. For some weeks before its capture it had been both seen and heard in the neighbourhood of Newtimber. Mr. Percy Godman, of Shermanbury, informed me that about six weeks previously he saw a Little Owl in a chalk-pit near that place, whilst waiting during a "check" in a run with the South Down Fox-hounds. In all probability it was the same bird. Since it came into my possession, however, I have received information which has considerably marred the pleasure I should otherwise have felt in recording the occurrence of this rare species in Sussex. It seems that in November last two pairs of the Little Owl, which had been in confinement at Knepp Castle, in the parish of Shipley, in this county, were given their liberty. Two were subsequently found dead; the other two, after about a month or six weeks, were not seen again. It is not unlikely, therefore, that these may have been the two specimens which I obtained four and five months afterwards.— (Cowfold, Horsham).

—A Barn Owl was sitting perched in one of the trees in the churchyard of St. Dunstan's-in-the East, in the city of London, during the 7th, 8th, and 9th of June. These trees are the favourite resort of many hundreds of sparrows, which congregate there every evening to chatter and gossip for an hour or so before they retire to rest. (St. Dunstan's Buildings, City).

—A male bird of this species was seen by Mr. G.A. Tyndale Powell, of Hurdcott House, near here, on Sunday, April 29th. He saw it as he was walking back from church in the morning, and got within six yards of it, so that he could not be mistaken. A second specimen was killed at Herriard, near Basingstoke, in May. This was also a male bird, rather lighter than usual on the back perhaps, and is now in my possession.— (Britford Vicarage, Salisbury).

—On the 22nd May last, as I travelled from Barden Tower to Bolton Abbey, a distance of about four miles, I observed above a dozen male and four female Pied Flycatchers. They were all flying about the River Wharfe, and from their unsettled manner it was evident they had only just arrived. Indeed if this species breeds as early as the various authors state in the ornithological works to which I have access, my observations have been unfortunately dull. A few years ago only one or two pairs bred annually in Wharfedale, and their habitat was confined to the north of Bolton Woods. Of late years, however, it has been greatly on the increase, and has extended its range in a southerly direction. In passing through its new breeding haunts, I could not help fearing lest this species, which has bred unmolested in Upper Wharfedale for a great number of years, should be wantonly destroyed by