240 MISCELLANEOUS NOTES AND OBSEKVATIONS. 



and I saw on the same day a male at Bushey also. On the same 

 day my brother saw three together in a field at St. Albans, and 

 on Monday I saw another on the railway bank at Bushey. The 

 insect emerges from the chrysalis in August, and may be taken up 

 to November if the weather keeps open ; it then hybemates, and 

 flies again in the summer. It is remarkable that it should appear 

 now, and not have been noticed here last autumn. Its food-plant 

 is clover, and it is usually to be found either in clover or lucerne 

 fields. — Arthur Cottam, Watford. 



Ornithology. 



Notes on the Owl. — "We have at Watfoi-d the white owl and the 

 brown or tawny owl. The white owl has built for more than 

 20 years in an old hollow elm tree at Mrs. Robins', The Elms, 

 Watford. Last year most of the tree was blown down, and the 

 gardener tells me he saw the owls come afterwards and look about, 

 but not finding their old home, he thinks they have finally departed. 

 They built in a barn at Wiggen Hall and also at Oxhey Lodge. 

 The brown or tawny owl has built in a box placed in the fork of 

 a tree on the lawn at Wiggen Hall. Four or five years ago Mr. 

 King had one given to him, and it took up its abode in the box. 

 A mate soon came, and they have bred there ever since. On 

 the 25th of last May, he saw the old one and one young one in a 

 larch tree on the lawn. Three young ones were hatched in the 

 box, and they had been putting their heads out for some days. 

 These brown owls ought to be prosecuted for breaking the AVild 

 Birds Preservation Act, for they seem very destructive to birds. 

 One, last week, tried to kill a skylark that was in a cage by the 

 house. On hearing a great noise, the gardener's wife came out, 

 and frightened the owl away. The same night he went to a 

 blackbird's cage, tore out two strong wires and bent a third, and 

 then took away the blackbird, which had been a favourite one for 

 three years. The bird must have fought valiantly for his life, for 

 the cage had a great many feathers in it. The nest of the long- 

 tailed tit which I show you seems to have been injured by the 

 owl, probably the hen was killed. Nine or ten other birds' nests 

 have been found deserted, and Mr. King thinks it probable that 

 the owl has destroyed the sitting bird. A young brown owl was 

 caught in an apple tree last year in my garden. I kept it and 

 another some months. I then gave tliom away because of the 

 difficulty of getting food for them. A long-eared owl was shot in 

 a turnip field near Royston, by Mr. Haylock, 40 years since, wliilst 

 he was partridge shooting. — A. T. Brett, M.D., Watford House. 



