BIRDS 



92. Tawny Owl. Syrnium aluco (Linn.). 

 Generally called the brown owl or wood 



owl. Common wherever there are large and 

 old trees with hollows to breed in, but absent, 

 at least during the breeding season, from 

 places where such trees are wanting. An 

 extremely grey variety, ' with the white 

 markings conspicuous and no trace of rufous 

 tawny,' was shot at Great Horwood near 

 Winslowin July 1884 (Aplin, Zoologist, 1884, 

 p. 471). It is well known that this owl 

 occurs in a brown and a greyish phase, but 

 the brown and often very rufous phase is 

 apparently the prevailing one in England. 



93. Little Owl. Athene noctua (Scopoli). 



The captures of this owl in Buckingham- 

 shire being all of recent date (1896, Fingest; 

 1894, Turville ; 1902, Bletchley), there can 

 be no doubt that all are due to the many in- 

 troduced specimens. Every year cages full 

 are sent over from Holland, and in Northamp- 

 tonshire (Lord Lilford) and Tring (Mr. Roth- 

 schild) many have been liberated and bred, 

 though they are decreasing in numbers. 



94. Scops Eared-Owl. Scops giu (Scopoli). 



(The proper name is Pisorhina scops.) 

 ' A bird of this species was shot by a far- 

 mer on the borders of Bucks, near Brill, in 

 the spring of 1838, and taken to Mr. Forest, 

 from whom we shortly after received infor- 

 mation of its occurrence ' (A. H. Matthews, 

 Zoologist, 1849, p. 2596.) 



95. Marsh Harrier. Circus tsruginosus (Linn.). 



Though doubtless in former times fairly 

 numerous in marshy districts, we have no de- 

 tailed records of this bird's breeding in the 

 county, nor notes of very recent occurrences. 

 In 1868 Clark Kennedy wrote (Birds of 

 Berks and Bucks, p. 4) : ' Resident throughout 

 the year but nowhere numerous. It is dis- 

 tributed sparingly in both counties, and is 

 doubtless often confounded with the hen har- 

 rier. A few are still to be seen at various 

 seasons in the neighbourhood of Chesham ; 

 and it remains all the year in some favoured 

 localities, which are now, alas ! " few and 

 far between " in the two counties. The Rev. 

 Bryan Burgess of Latimer, near Chesham, 

 wrote me word of an immature marsh harrier 

 which was killed some years ago near Ris- 

 borough.' 



Mr. Cocks tells us that Mr. R. Lunnon 

 winged a male near Spade Oak, Little Mar- 

 low, in the heavy snow on January 19, 1881, 

 and gave it alive to Mr. Cocks on December 

 21, 1881. 



96. Hen-Harrier. Circus cyaneus (Linn.). 

 Like most birds of prey the hen-harrier is 



also a bird of the past in most places where it 

 used to breed. According to Mr. Clark 

 Kennedy a male was shot at Eton College in 

 1857, an d it ' has occurred at Chesham and 

 near Cookham.' Some fifteen years ago or 

 so one was shot near the Tring reservoirs, close 

 to the borders of Herts. 



97. Montagu's Harrier. Circus cineraceus 



(Montagu). 



(The correct name in our opinion is Circus 

 pygargus, Linnaeus, 1758 and 1766.) 



According to Mr. Cocks (Field, 1873) a 

 specimen was killed near Hurley in 1870. A 

 fine adult male was trapped near Wigginton, 

 Tring, close to the Bucks border. Clark 

 Kennedy wrote (p. 166) : ' The Rev. Harpur 

 Crewe informed me that a specimen of this 

 bird was killed some years since by Mr. A. H. 

 Jenney in the parish of Drayton Beauchamp 

 in Buckinghamshire. It is now in the pos- 

 session of Sir J. H. Crewe. Mr. R. B. Sharpe 

 sent me word that a harrier of this species 

 was procured by a gentleman of his acquaint- 

 ance near Eton in the summer of 1867, and 

 is now in his collection.' 



98. Buzzard. Buteo vulgaris, Leach. 



(We would call this bird Buteo buteo (Linn.), 

 being the Falca buteo, Linn.) 



In the Field, March 1875, p. 72, Mr. 

 Thomas Marshall writes : ' A fine specimen 

 of the common buzzard was trapped in the 

 neighbourhood of High Wycombe early in 

 March 1875. Another was killed last year 

 at Little Marlow. I am informed that the 

 latter had been observed and stalked for a long 

 time previously.' 



99. Rough-legged Buzzard. Buteo lagopus 



(Gmelin). 



(Should, in our opinion, be called Archibuteo 

 lagopus. It is inconsistent to suppress the 

 genus Archibuteo if so many othe/ genera are 

 recognized.) 



A specimen was trapped near Wycombe 

 on December 6, 1880 (T. Marshall, Fiel4, ii. 

 1880, p. 905). In the late autumn of 1891 

 three were trapped (one of them alive) near 

 Halton, and of these two are now in the 

 museum at Tring. These are the same re- 

 corded by Mr. Grossman in the History of 

 Herts, p. 206, in 1893 as having been 'shot 

 at Tring.' They were caught near Halton, 

 near Tring in Buckinghamshire, and the 

 year was certainly not 1893, but 1891 or 

 possibly 1890. Clark Kennedy (p. 165) 

 mentions a pair which were shot in Bledlow 



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