12 BIRDS OF THE HUMBER DISTRICT. 



an old magpie's nest, in a young plantation of spruce 

 and larch, near my house. I had then frequent op- 

 portunities of observing their habits. When, in 

 May, the young, three in number, left the nest, they 

 usually perched on the summit of those trees rising 

 just above the level of the plantation, apparently in 

 no degree incommoded by the glare of daylight; 

 they kept constantly uttering a low wailing cry, re- 

 sembling the whine of a puppy, and towards even- 

 ing were always very noisy and unsettled. The old 

 birds used to beat the fields and hedgerows during 

 the day, in bright sunshine, and on dull days and 

 towards evening were particularly active. I have 

 known the remains of fourteen moles taken from a 

 nest of this species. 



21. BUBO MAXIMUS, Fleming. Eagle Owl. 



This noble bird has been recorded, on the autho- 

 rity of Mr. Alington, as having been taken alive in 

 the parish of Stainton-le-Vale, on the Lincolnshire 

 North Wolds, in the year 1848 *. Mr. Alington has 

 quite recently kindly informed me that he has good 

 reasons for thinking that this bird was not a wild 

 specimen. Some time after mentioning the circum- 

 . stance of its capture to Mr. Morris, he learnt that 

 the late Mr. D'Eyncourt, of Bayon's Manor, kept 

 several of these birds in. a semiwild state in an old 

 castellated building near his house ; and he has now 



* Morris's 'British Birds/ vol. i. p. 184. 



