314 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



gun at an Eagle Owl, but the gun missing fire as usual, the 

 Owl stared at him for a moment " with eyes like a leopard," 

 then off it went. Mr. Hanson had approached quite close by 

 the aid of an intervening stack. 



Mr. Kenneth McLean has in his possession an example 

 obtained by himself on 5th November 1875, on the banks 

 at Hummersea, near Loftus-in-Cleveland (see Nat. 1899, p. 138, 

 where the specimen is figured). 



In July 1876, an Eagle Owl was captured on Rombalds 

 Moor, above Ilkley, by two farm servants ; it was probably 

 an escape, the bird being quite unable to fly, owing to its 

 plumage being " storm soaked." This bird was kept alive 

 for some time in a small vivarium at Roundhay Park, Leeds, 

 along with two specimens said to have been taken from a 

 nest near Aberdeen ! 



The next occurrence was at Scarborough, on 30th October 

 1879, after a very heavy gale from the north-east. The late 

 A. Roberts, who supplied the information, was on his way 

 to the Museum at one o'clock p.m., when he was startled 

 by seeing a very large Eagle Owl flying quite low in one of 

 the back streets, which, on arriving within ten yards of him, 

 rose with difficulty over the cottages and disappeared. The 

 bird was also seen immediately afterwards by Mr. Robert 

 Champley to alight in Lord Londesborough's grounds. 



In the winter of 1879-80, as recorded by the late J. 

 Cordeaux in the Zoologist (1891, p. 365), one was seen at 

 Easington, near Spurn, where it remained all night in a tree 

 in a cottage garden. 



At Fixby, near Huddersfield, Mr. C. C. Hanson announced 

 in the Naturalist (1886, p. 114), that a male was killed on 

 1st January 1885, by Mr. Jos. Firth of Fixby. It measured 

 two feet in extreme length, four feet four inches in expanse 

 of wings, and weighed a little over four pounds. The specimen 

 is now in the possession of Mr. Firth, Shepherd's Rest Inn, 

 Cowcliffe. 



With reference to a probable occurrence at Spurn the 

 late J. Cordeaux wrote {op. cit. 1889, p. 2) : — " An immense 

 Owl, presumably of this species, said to be the largest ever 



