30 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xm. 



LITTLE OWL BREEDING IN SHROPSHIRE AND 

 RADNORSHIRE. 



Although there have been many records of the occurrence 

 of the Little Owl {Athene n.noctua) in Shropshire, no instance of 

 its nesting here has been hitherto reported. Capt. M. Blundell 

 Hawkes informs me, however, that on May 5th, 1919, he 

 found a Little Owl sitting on three eggs in a hole in an apple 

 tree at Stanton Lacy. A few days later another nest with 

 eggs was found in the outskirts of Shrewsbury. Mr. Owen 

 R. Owen also tells me that on April 28th, 1918, he found a 

 nest with five eggs at Knighton, Radnorshire ; the bird sat 

 very close. Later, he found another nest containing young. 



N. E. Forrest. 



STATUS OF THE LITTLE OWL IN LEICESTERSHIRE. 



The Little Owl {Athene n. noctua) seems to have increased in 

 numbers very rapidly during the last few years in this county. 

 The head-keeper of a large estate informed me that over forty 

 were trapped there during the season of 1918 alone, and at the 

 present time it is the commonest species of Owl near Leicester. 

 This is the more remarkable when it is remembered that it 

 was first recorded from the county in January 1900, and was 

 not proved to breed with us till 1906. W. H. Barrow. 



LONG-EARED OWL LAYING TWICE IN SAME NEST. 



On April 14th, 1918, near Folkestone, Kent, I took a clutch 

 of six eggs of the Long-eared Owl {Asio 0. otus) from the 

 deserted nest of a Magpie. On passing the nest again on 

 April 30th I was surprised to find it occupied, and containing 

 one egg of a second laying. A few days later it contained four 

 eggs, but as I left the neighbourhood and did not return, I 

 was unable to ascertain how many were laid. 



What made this appear more surprising was the situation of 

 the nest, which was not one to which a Long-eared Owl would 

 be expected to give preference. It was in a wood, consisting 

 of larch trees of about twenty feet in height and absolutely 

 devoid of foliage, the nest being at the top of one of them, while 

 within fifty yards was a thick plantation of spruce, containing 

 many old nests and appearing in every way more suitable to 

 the usual habits of this bird. L. S. Dear. 



[Magpies are rather partial to larches, and do not make any 

 effort at concealment. The laying of a second clutch by the 

 Long-eared Owl in the same nest is rather unusual and suggests 

 a scarcity of suitable nesting-places. The nests in the spruce 

 plantation may not have been suitable. — F.C.R.J.] 



