EAGLE OWL. 313 



Thomas Allis, in 1844, wrote : — 



Bubo maximus. — Eagle Owl — One of these magnificent birds was 

 shot at Horton, near Bradford, about 1824 (H. Denny's "Catalogue 

 of Yorkshire Birds " in the " Annals of Natural History," Vol. VII. 

 p. 388). Another was taken alive in a wood near Harrogate, in the 

 summer of 1832, and was purchased by George Lane Fox, Esq., of 

 Bramham, and is now at York in the Museum. 



There are several other instances of this rare visitor to 

 Britain having occurred in Yorkshire, and in the following 

 enumeration of them, Prof. Newton's remark (Yarrell's 

 " Birds," 4th Ed. p. 170), as to the probability of many of 

 the British examples being escapes from captivity, is par- 

 ticularly applicable to those specimens which have occurred 

 during the summer months ; indeed grave doubts may be 

 expressed as to the authenticity of most of these Yorkshire 

 records. 



One at Horton, near Bradford, about the year 1824, is 

 mentioned by the late Henry Denny in his " Catalogue of 

 Yorkshire Birds " contributed in 1840 to the " Annals of 

 Natural History " (Vol. VH.), and is referred to by Allis, as 

 is another taken near Harrogate in 1832. 



Patrick Hawkridge of Scarborough communicated to 

 Neville Wood's " Naturalist " (1838, p. 155), a note of the 

 capture of a specimen off Flamborough Head. The bird, 

 after alighting upon the mast of a sloop sailing by, was with 

 difficulty secured, after it had " actually pinned down with its 

 powerful talons the cabin boy, who had been sent aloft to 

 seize it." 



The example mentioned by the Rev. F. O. Morris (" Brit. 

 Birds," 1851, Vol. I. p. 184), as shot in the woods at Clifton 

 Castle, near Bedale, in the month of March 1845, proved — 

 as the result of inquiries made through my obliging correspon- 

 dent the late James Carter of Masham — to be a bird escaped 

 from Hornby Castle, the residence of the Duke of Leeds. 

 A letter from Mr. Wilie, the Duke's agent, describes the bird 

 as being from the forest at Mar Lodge, N.B. 



Mr, C, C. Hanson of Greetland, near Halifax, stated that, 

 on a very dark day in November 1845, he snapped an old flint 



