STRIGID.-E. 



309 



THE EAGLE-OWL. 



Bubo ignavus, T. P'orster. 



From time to time examples of this large and handsome species 

 have been recorded in Great Britain ; but some of these individuals 

 are known to have escaped from that semi-captivity in which they 

 are often kept, while suspicion attaches to others. Birds which 

 were probably genuine migrants from Northern Europe have, 

 however, been obtained, at long intervals, in the Orkney and 

 Shetland Islands, and also on the mainland of Scotland ; while in 

 England a female which showed no sign of having been in con- 

 finement was shot near Stamford in Lincolnshire, in April 1879, 

 Mr. Cordeaux records an individual seen near Easington, Holder- 

 ness, in the winter of 1879-1880, as well as another noticed several 

 times in October 1888, and no more likely district for a wanderer 

 from Scandinavia can be imagined. There is no evidence that the 

 Eagle-Owl has ever visited Ireland ; but in the Science and Art 



