A HISTORY OF WORCESTERSHIRE 



is known to ornithologists as the ' western 

 owl,' and a figure of it will be found in 

 Dresser's Birds of Europe. I am happy to 

 have been able to introduce it into the Wor- 

 cestershire list. 



94. Long-eared Owl. Am otus (Linn.). 



A resident bird, which may be said to be 

 uncommon rather than rare ; the long-eared 

 owl has hov/ever never been mentioned as 

 breeding in Worcestershire. It is to a great 

 extent a woodland species, and is partial to 

 plantations in which there are many ever- 

 greens, such as pines and spruce firs. 



95. Short-eared Owl. Jsio accipitrinus (PaWns). 

 Of this species Mr. Willis Bund says : 



' Mostly autumn migrants ; a few reside,' 

 which applies to Great Britain and not ex- 

 clusively to Worcestershire. Lees speaks of 

 it as of a rare occurrence in the Malvern dis- 

 tricts. So far as I can learn there is no record 

 of this species having ever bred in Worcester- 

 shire, but it is not uncommon in some parts 

 of the county as an autumn visitor. On the 

 Cotteswold Hills it is not at all infrequent, 

 and seems to prefer turnip fields. 



96. Tawny or Brown Owl. Syrnium aluco 



(Linn.). 

 This owl must be considered as the com- 

 monest owl in Worcestershire. It has a 

 much better idea of taking care of itself than 

 the barn-owl, and will sometimes take up 

 its quarters very near our dwellings and ob- 

 serve so much caution that its presence would 

 remain unknown were it not for its droppings 

 which betray it. 



97. Little Owl. Athene noctua (Scopoli). 

 There are two undoubted Worcestershire 



specimens of this species, one in the Museum 

 at Worcester and the other in the collection 

 of the writer. The first was taken at Ear- 

 diston, the residence of Sir C. S. Smith, but 

 there is no record of the date, and the second 

 was shot in the spring of 1897 at Lulsley, 

 near Knightwick, in this county. It was first 

 seen on the roof of some farm buildings, and 

 was subsequently shot from there. 



98. Scops-Owl. Scops giu (Scopoli). 



Besides the recorded specimen mentioned 

 by Hastings, I have heard of one which was 

 brought to the late veteran taxidermist of 

 Worcester, Mr. H. Holloway, for preservation. 

 It came into his hands between thirty and 

 forty years ago, when freshly killed, but I 

 have failed to gather any particulars concern- 

 ing it. 



158 



99. Marsh-Harrier. Circus aruginosus (Linn.). 

 About thirty years since a bird of this 



species was shot at Witley Court. I know of 

 no other occurrence of this harrier in Wor- 

 cestershire, and this solitary specimen is in 

 immature plumage. 



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

 The hen-harrier must now I think be 



mentioned as having formerly occurred in 

 Worcestershire, not a straggler having ap- 

 peared for some years. A female in the 

 Worcester Museum was taken at Eardiston, 

 but the date is not known. The latest occur- 

 rence in the county of which I have any 

 knowledge is that of a female which was shot 

 near Shipston-on-Stour in 1877, and brought 

 to Mr. Quartermain, of Stratford-on-Avon, 

 for presen'ation, where I saw and examined it. 



[Montagu's Harrier. Circus cineraceus 

 (Montagu). 



I possess an adult male which was shot a 

 good many years ago at Sutton Coldfield in 

 Warwickshire, not very distant from our 

 county boundary.] 



lOi. Buzzard. Buteo vulgaris. Leach. 



Of late years the buzzard has become a 

 rare bird in all the midland counties, its ap- 

 pearance being confined to stragglers, few in 

 number and far between. Only one speci- 

 men of local occurrence is in the Worcester 

 Museum, and that was taken at Croome Park. 

 The latest Worcestershire specimen which I 

 have heard of was killed at Witley Court in 

 the early part of 1892, and brought to the 

 late Mr. H. Holloway, of Worcester, for pre- 

 servation. The buzzard was considered to 

 be rare in the Malvern district so long ago as 

 1870, and Mr. W. Edwards regarded the 

 occurrence of one at Eastnor in 1869 as 

 worthy of record. It still breeds in Wales 

 at no very great distance from the Worces- 

 tershire boundary. 

 102. Sparrow-Hawk. Accipiter nisus (Linn.). 



Like all the birds of prey the sparrow-hawk 

 is less frequently seen in the midland counties 

 than it used to be ; though it cannot now be 

 said to be otherwise than common, and it is 

 certainly a resident bird, breeding for the most 

 part in woods and coppices where it is least 

 likely to be observed. The eggs are always, 

 to the best of my knowledge, laid in an old 

 nest of some other bird, as that of a crow or a 

 magpie, often one that has been reduced by 

 the wear of more than one winter to a lump 

 of decayed sticks. The mere platform made 

 by the ringdove has been known to serve the 

 turn of the sparrow-hawk, but whatever is its 



