22 ‘THE BIRDS OF BRECONSHIRE. 
town, as evening approaches one may 
hear them. They used to frequent a 
large elm-tree growing close to my house 
in Brecon, where they terrified the ser- 
vants, who were most superstitious, with 
their cries. Among the Welsh it is 
considered most unlucky to kill an Owl, 
but whether this accounts for their 
numbers is more than I can say; it may 
possibly have something to do with it. 
A Grey variety of the Brown Owl, a 
remarkably fine bird, was killed at 
Ffrwdgrech, near Brecon, in 1889, and is 
in the collection of Capt. Swainson of 
Brecon. I saw another close to the 
Crug, near Brecon, in 1891. 
There are two phases of this bird now 
recognized, a red and a grey, the latter 
occurring most in the Southern Counties 
of England. (Aflalo). 
WHITE OR BARN OWL, Strix flammea. 
Now very uncommon throughout the 
county. When returning from an 
evening’s ramble I used sometimes to 
see it gliding with noiseless flight over 
the fields. On all ‘‘keepers’ trees,” where 
one so often picks up a lesson in 
’ ee 
