220 Miscellaneous. 



beneath ; the keel extending in a nearly straight line for almost two- 

 thirds of its length, and thus terminating abruptly : sheaths of the 

 oviduct black, hairy, about two-thirds of the length of the abdomen : 

 legs bright yellow ; tips of the tarsi black : wings limpid ; fore wings 

 slightly clouded with yellow beneath the ulna ; nerves yellow ; ulna 

 much shorter than the humerus ; radius not more than one-third of 

 the length of the ulna ; cubitus extremely short ; stigma very small. 

 Length of the body 1^ line ; of the wings 2 lines. 



Found on the banks of the river Lea in July. This is probably the 

 female of C. ^rope (see Ann. of Nat. Hist. xiv. 182). 



On the Habits of the Tawny Owl, Strix Stridula. 

 By Ralph Carr, Esq. 



This bird does not seem to be known as a bold and rapacious rob- 

 ber of the nests of some of our stronger birds at the time when it is 

 feeding its own young. It has been protected now for a few years 

 at Dunston Hill. In 1844 a pair of tawny owls reared and ushered 

 into the world three hopeful young, after having fed them assiduously 

 ujion the trees for many weeks after they had left the nest. The 

 food must often have consisted in great part of worms, snails, and 

 slugs, for the old birds brought it every minute from the ground in 

 the immediate vicinity of the trees where the young were perched. 

 This however might only be considered as a whet to their appetites 

 before dinner ; for the parents made repeated and persevering attacks 

 upon three or four magpie nests, sometimes during half an hour at a 

 time. As the defence was spirited and gallant, they were often 

 repulsed ; but, finally, I found the remains of young magpies under 

 the favourite perch of the young owls, and one morning the 

 bloody head and feathers of an old magpie, conspicuous from its 

 size and the want of any cerous skin about the beak. This then, I 

 thought, must have been taken when roosting. In 1845 the old owls 

 alone were seen, and they passed the summer in sedate retirement, 

 and seemed to rest from the labours of propagation ; neither did they 

 molest the magpies. But in 1846 they began to be very active early 

 in the spring, and by the beginning of May again had their young 

 owlets out upon the branches. Walking out about nine o'clock one 

 evening, I heard a pertinacious attack going on against a pair of 

 magpies that had their nest in the top of a very tall sycamore. At 

 last, instead of the frantic chattering of the poor magpies, one of 

 them began to shriek in agony like a hare when caught in a noose ; 

 and it was evident the owl was endeavouring to drag it out — the 

 mother bird — by the head from the entrance of the nest. I ran down 

 to the spot to prevent the perpetration of such murder, and arrived 

 in time to separate the combatants by striking against the stem of 

 the tree with a stick. Before the next morning the young of our 

 only pair of rooks had disappeared from the nest, in a situation where 

 nothing but the owls could have injured them. This was too bad ; 

 a decree went forth against the young owls, and they paid the 

 penalty of their voracious appetites. 



It is thus evident that the magpie's instinct in arching over her 



