156 



THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



November l6th, 1876 [Chelmsford Chronicle, Nov. 23), and in 1880, English exhi- 

 bited one shot at Magdalen Laver (44. i. xi). According to Mr. Benton (35.294), 

 the screams of one of these birds caused the country people to regard as haunted 

 a certain wood at Hockley. In Epping Forest it " has been obtained several 

 times, and it would multiply rapidly if it were not so frequently destroyed by 

 gamekeepers " (Buxton — 47. 83), while both English (43. i. 24) and E. Doubleday 

 (15) include it in their list of Epping Birds. It is common, and breeds round 

 Harwich (Kerry). In the woods round Danbury, it is not rare (Smoothy). Mr. 

 Fitch has one shot in the Maldon district. Dr. Bree writing on the " packing" of 

 the Short-eared Owl (29. Jan. 10, 1880), says : — 



" Col. Hawkins informs me that at Alresford there are about fifteen of them, 

 which take refuge in a fir tree, from which, when tapped, they noiselessly flyaway, 

 but return again when all is quiet. Fancy a covey of Owls ! I have seen several 

 similar instances recorded in the journals, especially the account given by Mr. 

 Gurney, jun., who flushed a covey of, I think, thirty of these pretty birds ! " 



Later Dr. Bree again writes (29. Jan. 24, 1880) : " Col. Hawkins has kindly 

 sent me one out of the covey of Owls at Alresford. It is the Long-eared Owl, and 

 not the Short-eared Owl, as stated in my former letter." 



Short-eared Owl : Asio brachyotiis. Locally, " Horn Owl," 

 " Woodcock Owl,"' " Turnip Owl," and " Cabbage Owl." 



A winter visitant, common in .some yeans, but rare in others. I 

 have one conclusive record of its having bred in the county, and it 



probably once did so abundantly. 

 There are good reasons for be- 

 lieving that it also bred on the 

 Walton Marshes in 1S84 and 

 again in 1889. I believe that this 

 species has never before been re- 

 corded as breeding so far to the 

 southward in Britain. It is occa- 

 sionally met with in all parts of the 

 county, but most often near the 

 coast, and it frequently gathers 

 into small flocks. 



Dale, who calls it the "Horn Owl," 

 says (2. 396), " I ha\e seen _^these 

 caught in this county toward the sea 

 some of which may not unlikely [have] 

 be[en taken] here [Harwich]. These are that sort of Owl which Childrey * * * 

 mentions." King says (20) it was " not uncommon " round Sudbury in 1838 — 

 meaning, presumably, in the winter. Edward Doubleday met with it (15) in the 

 Epping district, and Mr. Buxton says it is an autumn and winter visitor (47. 83)- 

 About 1832, Mr. Parsons wrote (11) "that it was not uncommon on the marshes 

 [of Rochford hundred] in the autumn, arriving in October, though by no means 

 a regular visitant, and in some seasons scarcely one seen." Mr. T. S. Tiller notes 

 thnt when shooting at Great Chesterford, on November 27th, 1879, he sprung 

 thirteen from some rough grass, eleven being on the wing at once (29. Dec. 13). 



SHOUT-EAKKD (IWL, I '6. 



