DECEMBER 271 



sence of barn-owls, and adds some valuable testimony 

 to the usefulness of their operations. In May he 

 analysed, by soaking in water, half a pailful of pelts or 

 castings of these birds, and found among them the 

 remains of eighteen finches (apparently sparrows), two 

 young thrushes, eleven young rats, twelve field-mice, 

 and four shrews. ' No remains of game,' he remarks. 

 ' It always makes my blood boil to see this useful bird 

 proscribed by the unthinking gamekeeper.' In the 

 nest of a long-eared owl were found the remains of 

 seven young rats, ' which in a few weeks would have 

 been full grown and ready to prey on the young, 

 hand-reared pheasants, of which these woods are full.' 



The value of such notes as these, made by an orni- 

 thologist of Mr. Gurney's experience and standing, 

 cannot be overestimated. It is too commonly sup- 

 posed and asserted that it is of no scientific use 

 reporting the occurrence of a rare bird unless its corpse 

 can be produced for examination by experts ; but here 

 is Mr. Gurney, whose scientific reputation nobody can 

 call in question, writing with approval of three among 

 his correspondents, Mr. E. C. Arnold, Mr. Power, and Mr. 

 Napier, 'who seldom use the gun where binoculars 

 will serve for identification.' 



LXVI 



Yesterday (26th December 1908) I found in a friend's 

 house the stuffed effigy of a handsome and xhe Great 

 uncommon winter visitor to these islands Gre y shrike 

 to wit, a great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor). It was 



