220 Harriers 



This Harrier makes its appearance early in May, and leaves our 

 shores by the beginning of August ; at least that is my experience. 

 In those very rare cases where they successfully rear a brood, it is 

 probable that they would prolong their stay until September. 



It would seem that the males are far more numerous with us 

 than the females. Of ten Suffolk specimens, eight were males, 

 and onl}- two females. In Norfolk, too, I believe that there is a 

 great preponderance of males over females. 



Like the other Harriers, they are rather omnivorous. Beetles, 

 mice, small passerine birds and game-chicks appear in my list. 



2gth May, 1889 : male adult ; stomach contained fur and 

 other remains of a mouse. 



igth May, 1909 ; male adult ; stomach contained a few 

 fragments of some small beetle. 



13th June, 1914 ; male, second year, in change ; stomach 

 contained remains of young Pheasant, the right leg being entire. 



17th June, 1914 ; female adult ; stomach contained remains 

 of Meadow-pipit. 



20th June, 191 1 ; male adult ; stomach contained remains of 

 Skylark with legs entire. 



22nd June, 1912 ; male adult ; stomach contained feathers 

 and a few bones not identified (contents putrid). 



25th June, 1909 ; male adult ; stomach contained only a little 

 dark-greenish matter. 



3rd July, 1909 ; female adult ; stomach filled with the remains 

 of two young Pheasants. 



IV. The Little Owl {Athene Jioclua, Scopoh). 



I now come to the last bird on my list, the Little Owl. It is a 

 member of the famih^ Strigidcc, and is therefore outside the title 

 of my paper. 



The Little Owl is not an indigenous species, but has been 

 introduced by various enthusiastic acclimatizers ; in the first 

 instance I think by the late Lord Lilford,* and since then by various 

 other naturalists, who were able to appreciate the great benefit 

 which we derive from our own native owls, and believed that the new 

 introduction would prove equally advantageous. 



To me it seems something more than a pity that these 

 acclimitization experiments should be made by individuals on their 

 own initiative, without the consent of the nation. If such 



* George Edwards figures (CAeanings of Nat. Hist., 1758, L, pi. 228) a Little Owl which was 

 caught alive in a chimney in St. Catherine's Parish, near the Tower of London, and was believed 

 to have escaped from some ship lying in the Thames. He also records a second example which 

 came down a chimney in Lambeth. 



Probably Charles Waterton can claim to be the first deliberate introducer of this bird into 

 England, as he released five Little Owls (the survivors of a dozen brought by him from Italy) in 

 the grounds of Walton Hall, Yorkshire, in May, 1843 (Waterton's JVaf. Hist. Essays, p. 284). — 

 Editor. 



