MARSH-HARRIER 277 



bird might have been one that was turned out in the 

 district some time previously. 



Mr. H. Elgar writes : "I find I had made a note of 

 seeing a Little Owl in the flesh shot at Cuxton in July, 

 1894. On March 2, 1907, we had a specimen of the 

 Little Owl brought into the Maidstone Museum ; it was 

 shot at Cobtree, Boxley, whilst flying over some fowls, 

 and was mistaken for a hawk. It showed no trace of 

 having been kept in confinement and was in good con- 

 dition ; the crop was empty, but the gizzard contained 

 a number of elytra belonging to small beetles." 



Family FALCONID^. 



Genus CIRCUS, Lacepede. 



MAESH-HAERIEK. 



Circus (vruginosus (Linnaeus). 8.N., i., p. 130 

 (1766). 



Boys, in his Birds of Sandwich, 1792, caUs this species 

 the "Moor Buzzard," which appears to be the oldest 

 and most appropriate name for this bird. The Eev. J. 

 Pemberton Bartlett, writing in 1844, states that it is 

 " not micommon in Romney Marsh." Those days are 

 past, and it may now be considered a rare visitor to 

 these localities ; the large increase of the population 

 and the cultivation of these marshes have driven the 

 birds to more suitable places. 



Mr. G. Dowker says that the Marsh-Harrier is very 

 rare in East Kent. It has been obtained by Mr. W. 

 Oxenden Hammond at Nonington ; by Mr. C. Gordon 

 at Dover, and by Dr. F. Plomley in Kent. 



