Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/275

Rh (Asio otus).—Mr. F. Styan had the following notes on this species not hitherto recorded by me:—

1. A nest at Witley in 1863, from which a nestling was taken and reared (fide Bryan Hook).

2. A nest with five eggs, taken on Reigate Hill on March 28th, 1874 (fide J.B. Crosfield).

3. A partly fledged bird, captured near Boxhill on June 5th, 1876 (ib.).

4. A nest with eggs near Churt in 1881 (fide Bryan Hook).

5. Found nesting about 1882 at Thursley, where it occasionally bred (fide R.W. Courage).

Mr. S.H. le Marchant informs me that he observed a pair at Chobham about 1897, which were probably nesting (in lit.). Mr. G. Dalgliesh has a male, taken this winter at Farley Heath, near Albury (in lit.).

(Circus cyaneus).—A female was shot at Wisley in December, 1869, and preserved by Mr. F. Yearley; an immature female was shot on Jan. 20th, 1880, by a Mr. H. Bucknall, near Banstead, and was preserved; Mr. R.W. Courage had a male in his collection, shot near Thursley, and stated (in 1880) that it had been also known to occur there in spring (F. Styan and J. Mitchell).

(C. cineraceus).— Mr. Stafford, of Godalming, informed Mr. F. Styan that the specimen in his (now the Charterhouse) collection was found dead (as mentioned in my 'Birds of Surrey,' p. 179) by the side of its nest on Royal Common. The nest contained four eggs. As this occurrence was so long ago as 1840, and as the species has been killed or observed more than once in the same spot, the story may well be true.

(Buteo vulgaris).—Mr. Stafford gave 1851 as the date when the pair in the Charterhouse collection, "killed whilst nesting at Witley," referred to in my 'Birds of Surrey' (p. 181), were taken. He also stated that the birds had nested there three years in succession, and that the young had been taken and successfully reared by the master of Witley Workhouse. An idea, however, grew up that the birds did damage to chickens, and they were therefore shot. Mr. R.W. Courage, in 1880, informed Mr. F. Styan that the species had been known to occur near Thursley (F. Styan and J. Mitchell). In November of 1901