150 GLAUCIDIUM PASSERINUM. 



where he was told that a pair of Ash-coloured Harriers had had a nest, which, 

 after some search, he found. It contained a single egg ; but, on taking it up, 

 he perceived it to be a common Fowl's, and discovered a trap set in the nest. 

 On inquiry, he learnt that ]\Ir. Baker, of Stoke-Ferry, had found it a few days 

 before, taken the eggs, and shot the hen-bird. On wi'iting to Mr. Baker, that 

 gentleman expressed his willingness to part with the specimens ; and accord- 

 ingly, on the 20th, my brother rode over to Stoke and obtained them from 

 him. Mr. Baker imagined that they were Hen-Harrier's, and had written 

 that name on the eggs ; but my brother saw the bird which had been killed 

 from the nest, and it was the commoner species — Circus cineraceus — as indeed 

 he had been led to believe it woidd prove. The Fowl's eg^ and the trap had 

 been put in the nest in the hope of seeming the cock-bird — a hope which, I 

 am glad to say, was never fulfilled. To the best of my knowledge, this is the 

 latest instance of a Hamer breeding in Feltwell Fen ; and, judging from the 

 state of the ground, the circimistance is not liljely to occur again. The nest 

 was made in the sedge, and on it was lying a feather — one of the rectrices of 

 the cock-bird. This is now before me, and is so eminently characteristic that, 

 apart from any other evidence, it would have been quite sufficient to deter- 

 mine the species of the owner.] 



\^ 468. r^o.— Holland, 1855. "With bird." From Mr. John 

 Baker's Collection.] 



[§ 469. 77^re6'.— Eastern England, 1846. From Mr. Osborne, 

 through Dr. R. T. Frere, 1863. 



Dr. Frere tells me that he bought these eggs from Mr. Osborne, 27th May, 

 1846. They were said to be from a nest of six ; but one of them is so dif- 

 ferently blown from the other two, that, in spite of the Doctor's positive as- 

 surance to the contrary, I suspect there may have been some little con- 

 fusion here, though I doubt not they belong to this species, and were obtained 

 in the English fens. Mr. Wolley's opinion of Mr. Osborne has been before 

 given (§ 4G1).] 



GLAUCIDIUM PASSERINUM (Linn^us). 



SPARROW-OWL. 



[§ 470. One, — " Greece." From Herr L. Schrader's Collection, 

 through Heir G. T. Keitel, 1861.] 



