A FEW 



AUTUMN NOTES. 



JANUAKY 1883, 



ALTHOUGH I am well aware how little I have to offer, I will 

 now give some notes on the autumn migration of 1882. 



This year a singularly large number of Owls passed through 

 the neighbourhood of Prague, a fact that may be ascribed to 

 the extraordinary abundance of the field-mice on the culti- 

 vated ground by the western bank of the Moldau, close to the 

 town. 



On October 14th, as I was walking through a not very 

 large but extremely fine field of turnips, Owls rose at every 

 step, and after a feeble flight settled in them again ; so, 

 in order to see what species they belonged to, I shot one, and 

 found that I had killed an old light-coloured male of the 

 Short-eared Owl (Otus brachyotus). 



In previous years I had merely seen isolated specimens of 

 this bird in our part of the country, and often none at all, 

 but on that occasion there were at least forty of them in that 

 one place. 



