378 Letters, Announcements, ^c. 



Kilmory, Lochgilphead, N. B., 

 May 21, 1879. 



Sirs, — It may interest some of your readers to know of two 

 instances of the Tawny Owl {Syrniun aluco) breeding in a 

 rabbit's burrow in this neighbourhood. Although noted by 

 some ornithological writers as occasionally building on the 

 ground, the selection of a hole for its nest has not, so far as 

 I am aware, been before recorded. As Professor Newton 

 (to whom I wrote) remarks, this selection may be con- 

 sequent on the paucity in Argyllshire of hardwood trees of 

 sufficient age and size to furnish hollow trunks and holes, 

 and the habit may be in process of becoming hereditary. 



The instance which came under my own notice was a nest 

 of live eggs : one had rolled away into a branch of the burrow ; 

 the others were nearly hatched in the second week of April, 



I enclose a letter of Mr. Bruce, of Ederline (at the foot of 

 Loch Awe), which gives particulars of a similar case in 1876. 



Yours &c., 



J. W. P. Orde. 



[Mr. Bruce writes as follows : — '^ April I8th, 1876. Found 

 its nest in a rabbit-hole, about two feet deep, in a sloping 

 bank. The nest contained four young Owls, differing greatly 

 in size : two were (I should say) at least ten days older than 

 the other two, and no two of them looked quite of the same 

 age ; they were covered with whitish down, and kept their 

 eyes shut. The nest also contained a rat and two mice, 

 freshly killed, and with their heads taken off.'' — Edd.] 



Heligoland, June 7th, 1879. 



Sirs, — Since I reported last on the rare and occasional 

 visitors to this island a page has been added to my journal 

 that vies with the most prominent of these records, carried 

 on now over a period of nearly forty years. My late captures 

 are : — 



Emberiza 2njrrhuIoides (April 24th). An old male in the 

 most perfect nuptial plumage. This species has never before 

 been obtained here, and consequently forms a most welcome 



