THE SPREAD OF THE LITTLE OWL. 339 



in the old thorn trees and is the commonest Owl in the 

 Park. Around Upping-ham Mr. W. T. Constable tells us that 

 in a lecture recently given to the Natural Science Society 

 of Uppingham School, Mr. R. N. Greenwood described 

 the Little Owl as established in that part of the county, 

 and that the members of the Society rarely went out on 

 an expedition without seeing the bird, which was 

 obviously increasing. 



Meanwhile it had spread into Nottinghamshire,* where 

 one was caught in 1896 at Newark-on-Trent, and another 

 shot near Nottingham in 1901, while in subsequent years 

 several were seen. The bird has even spread as far north 

 as Lincoln, near which town one was shot as early as 

 1902, and another a little further south near Sleaford in 

 1904.t 



To the north-westward it has recently nested in 

 Leicestershire and occurred in south Derbyshire in 1906, 

 and is evidently spreading, J and one was shot in 1906 in 

 Staffordshire, on the Shropshire border, § and arguing* 

 from these records, the bird appears actually to have 

 spread to Shropshire, although the occurrences in that 

 county may possibly be due to local importations. Mr. 

 H. E. Forrest writes that one was heard calling near 

 Willey, in south Shropshire, in 1899, and that another 

 was caught in a trap near there in the same year, while 

 another was taken near Shrewsbury in February, 1908. 



The rapid extension of the Little Owl in all quarters 

 from the centre of Lilford is thus very remarkable. 

 There are many gaps in the records, but it must be borne 

 in mind that where one has been recorded there are no 

 doubt many others, for although the bird's plaintive and 

 monotonous single whistle is very distinctive, and although 

 it often flies in daylight, nevertheless it can easily be 



* J. Whitaker, Birds of Notts., p. 156. 



t F. L. Blathwayt, ZooL, 1902, p. 112; 1904, p. 74. 



J r. C. R. Joui'dain, in lift., cf. also Dcrb. Arc. and Nat. Hist. Sac. 

 Journal, 1907. 



§ W. Wells Bladen, Trans. N. Staffs. F. Cbib, 1906-7. 



