224 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



species, and is often kept in confinement — no menagerie with any 

 pretensions to size or quality being complete without one or more 

 specimens of the Eagle-Owl. Like many other birds of prey in a 

 similar state, it will, with a moderate amount of care and attention, 

 live to a good age; and it has also been bred and reared in aviaries, 

 notably at Norwich, and elsewhere. 



In England, the Eagle-Owl has been obtained in Kent, Sussex, 

 and Devonshire, and at Hampstead, near London, and is said to 

 have occurred in the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Oxford, Derby, 

 York, and Durham, and also at Swansea, in Wales. In the autumn 

 of 1873 a male was shot by Mr. Reynolds, of Hermitage Farm, 

 Bridge-north; was stuffed by Mr. Edwards of Wolverhampton; 

 and, in April, 1874, was in the possession of Messrs. Cooke, 

 naturalists, Liverpool. In July, 1876, two farm servants caught 

 one on the edge of Rombald Moor, near Ilkley, Yorkshire. 



According to Newton, the only record of the appearance of this 

 species in Ireland " rests on an unsatisfactory statement, quoted by 

 Thompson, to the effect that once, after a great storm, four such 

 birds paid a two days' visit to Donegal, but were not seen again." 



In Scotland, notices of the occurrence of the Eagle-Owl are very 

 few. Pennant records an example killed in Fifeshire in the last 

 century. Sibbald states that it inhabits the Orkneys, where it 

 is known as the "Stock-Owl," and a specimen, recorded by 

 Baikie and Heddle, was obtained on Sanday in 1830. Saxby states 

 that, in Shetland, it was " at one time oftener to be seen than at the 

 present time," but had not been observed for several years until the 

 autumn of 1863, when one was seen in Unst. In March, 1871, 

 Saxby himself saw one in Balta, sitting on a stone. It flew off 

 when he approached, but was afterwards observed on the small 

 island of Hunie, a little to the southward, in which also rabbits 

 abound. Mr. Robert Gray mentions, on the authority of Mr. 

 Angus, the capture of one in Aberdeenshire, in February, 1866. 

 There is no British-killed specimen in the National Collection in 

 London. 



This specimen, which I am enabled, through the kindness of the 

 Messrs. Eggleton, bird-stuffers, Glasgow, to exhibit, was trapped on 

 the estate of Colonel Malcolm, of Poltalloch, near Ardrishaig, and 

 was seen by me in the flesh on the 23rd inst. It is a male, in fine 

 condition, and its dimensions are as follows : — Total length, 2 feet 

 If- inches; girth, 1 foot 9 inches; stretch of wing, 5 feet 3 J inches; 



