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



in earlier editions, vaguely mentions that " it is sometimes 

 found in Yorkshire, Flintshire, and also near London." 

 As the Flintshire specimen was apparently Tengmalm's 

 Owl,' and as no further information is supplied about the 

 identity of the Yorkshire example, we must dismiss this 

 as unproved, though, unfortunately, the remark is the 

 origin of the inclusion of the bird, as having been taken 

 in Yorkshire and Flintshire, in many lists, including the 

 fourth edition of Yarrell's " British Birds." 



In 1811, according to Gra\*es,* two occurred at 

 Middleshaw, Westmoreland, on the authority of John 

 Gough, who, though an excellent naturalist, was blind. 

 Gough wrote to Graves that " a pair took up their abode 

 in a barn, in that village, in the spring of 181 1, one of 

 which died by some accident ; another pair bred in a 

 chimney, in the same neighbourhood, a year or two 

 before." Macpherson doubts the correct identification 

 from description, and adds that even if the blind man had 

 not been misled the birds had probably been liberated by 

 someone in the neighbourhood.® 



In a little known work, Hunt's "British Ornithology," 

 published in 1815, which I have not seen, a pair are said 

 to have nested near Norwich, and Stevenson " mentions 

 one which was killed at Blofield, on the authority of 

 Lombe's notes. The Pagets, in their " Sketch of the 

 Natural History of Great Yarmouth" (1834), state that 

 two were taken in that neighbourhood, but give no 

 particulars. These and many others which are referred 



' Forrest, H. E., '- The Vertebrate Fauna of North Wales," London, 

 1907, p. 213. 



5 Graves, G., "British Ornithology,'" Fondon. 1S11-1S21, i. (checked 

 from 2nd edition, 1S21). 



* Macpherson, IF A., '"A Vertebrate Fauna of Lakeland," Fdinburgh, 

 1S92, xxiii. 



^° Stevenson, T., "Birds of Norfolk," London, 1886, i., 59. 



