2 Coward, Note on the Little Oivl and its Food. 



H. F. Witherby and N. F. Ticehurst, appeared in Volume I. 

 of "British Birds."' 



Some authorities maintain that the Fittle Owl must 

 only be considered as a successful colonist ; others, that it 

 is a rare wanderer to the British Islands, or even an 

 occasional immic^rant. Most of these latter opinions are 

 founded upon tlie recorded instances of its occurrence 

 prior to the date of its first known introduction — 1843. 

 A critical examination of the earlier records does not 

 strengthen belief in their accuracy. In 1842 Charles 

 Waterton brought some Little Owls from Rome and 

 liberated the survivors, five in number, in the following 

 year in his park at Walton. It is not proved that these 

 birds actually established a colony, but one or two may 

 have nested and others may have wandered. At an}- rate, 

 in the same year, 1843, there are two records of the bird, 

 one captured alive at Derby and the other seen dead by 

 William Borrer in the Brighton Market. Wolley thought 

 that the Derby bird was a wanderer from W'alton.-' Borrer 

 investigated the Brighton case, and was satisfied that the 

 bird had been shot at Fletching, and had not been imported 

 from the Continent' But that does not prove that it had 

 flown across the Channel ; it, too, might be a wanderer 

 from Yorkshire. A bird turned loose in a strange place, 

 even though it had no natural migratory instinct, might 

 wander for any distance. 



During the next thirty years we have no actual 

 knowledge of the release of any Little Owls, but Newton 

 and others suggest, not without reason, that the experiment 

 may have been tried either after or before Waterton's 



^ "British ISirds " (Jnl.), i.. 1907-8, pp. 335-342. 



- "Zoologist," 1844, P- 645 ; 1848. p. 2141. VVhitlock, Y. B., " Birds 

 of I)erl)yshire," London, 1893, P- ^23. 



' " Birds of Sussex," London, 1891, p. 33. 



