66 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vi. 



me that last j'ear a nest was found containing no less than 

 twenty-seven young Pheasants. I was also told by a farmer 

 that he had seen Little Owls sit on the top of his hen-coops 

 and carry off chickens as fast as they came out from its shelter. 

 The common idea in that part of Huntingdonshire (near 

 Peterboro') seems to be that the Little 0\\\, having located 

 a brood of young game-birds, will carry off the lot and " store " 

 them for futm-e use. They are also accused of going down 

 rabbit-holes after the young, and do certainly nest in them, 

 as I have seen. On April 25th, 1911, I disturbed a Little 

 Owl in the act of sucking the last of a full clutch of Wild 

 Duck's eggs. I know of many instances of young birds being 

 taken from the nest in broad daylight, and may note that 

 one of these nests (a Flycatcher's) was built in a creeper on 

 the wall of a house (1911). Lewis R. W. Loyd. 



While hunting for the nest of a Little Owl on April 17th, 

 1912, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, I flushed a biixl from a hole 

 fifteen feet from the ground, in a walnut-tree. The hole had 

 evidently been in use for a long time, as it was nearly full of 

 " remains." Amongst numerous pellets I found the pelvic 

 girdle of a frog, with the legs still attached ; I also found 

 another hind leg of a frog ; the head and one wing of a Black- 

 bird, quite fresh ; and numerous pellets consisting chiefly of 

 the wing-cases (elytra) of beetles, and a few skulls of some 

 of the small mice and shrews. Clemence M. Acland 



The Little Owl is by far the commonest owl in Bedfordshire, 

 and appears to be turning out the Barn-Owl and Tawny 

 Owl from many of their former nesting-haunts. In my 

 experience it is rare to find a nest that does not contain 

 remains of small birds of various kinds — Finches, Tits, 

 Sparrows, Buntings, Lark, etc., and on one occasion I found 

 a casting containing the bright orange bill of a male Blackbird. 

 Frogs also seem by no means unusual as an article of diet. 

 Its comparatively diurnal habits give it opportunities to 

 damage young game. The head keeper of a large shooting 

 estate in Cambridgeshire last year was missing a great many 

 of his young Pheasants from the coops. The culprit — a 

 Little Owl — was tracked doMH and shot. In the nest were 

 found seventy-four young Pheasants ! George T. Atchison. 



LONG-EARED OWL LAYING IN A TENANTED 

 NEST OF MAGPIE. 



Having watched a pair of Magpies {Pica p. jn'ca) building 

 their nest at Maxstoke, Warwickshire, my friend, Mr. H. G. 

 Wagstafl^, climbed to the nest on May 12th. 1912. judging 



