172 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiii. 



the same spot. We noticed that these Owls sat in a hunched- 

 up position, and not erect as the Long-eared Owl does, and 

 that the ears were only raised at intervals. I had one Owl 

 very close to me several times, and a conspicuous feature of 

 the underwing was the dark marbling at the tip and a single 

 dark line on the under wing-coverts. While watching one 

 night I saw one Owl, to quote my diary, " do a sort of nuptial 

 flight, twisting and flapping to and fro over the heather, 

 and clapping its wings three or four times rapidly under its 

 belly, before bringing them up stiffly over its back." The 

 Long-eared Owl has a somewhat similar performance in 

 springtime, but the wings are clapped once under the belly 

 at the end of each slow wing-beat, as the bird flies along. 



It is regrettable that our evidence of these Owls breeding 

 is inconclusive, but after a week we had to admit ourselves 

 defeated by a most watchful pair of birds. I saw a Short- 

 eared Owl hunting the Orford marshes at 5 p.m. on June 

 5th, but had no other chance to visit the place. I have no 

 record in the last fifteen years of this species attempting to 

 breed in east Suffolk. 



Greenland Falcon (?) {Falco r. candicans P). — On Feb- 

 ruary I2th, 1919, a bitterly cold day, a greyish-white bird 

 rose about sixty yards from me on Thorpe Mere, which 

 I momentarily thought from its colour was a Gull, but its 

 flight and appearance on the wing were unmistakably a 

 Falcon's. I could not identify it with any greater certainty, 

 as it went off very rapidly towards the Aldeburgh river. 



Common Bittern {Botaurus s. stellaris). — On August 4th, 

 1919, while waiting for ducks at flight time, a Bittern rose 

 out of some reeds close to me. It circled up slowly to a 

 height, uttering a hoarse note, and then disappeared towards 

 the sea. I did not see it later, and think it was probably a 

 passing migrant. 



Common Sheld-Duck {Tadorna tadorna). — With refer- 

 ence to the notes on communal laying by this bird (see 

 British Birds, XL, p. 161), it may be worth recording that 

 I have twice in recent years seen broods of young Sheld-Ducks 

 being escorted by three old birds. 



Garganey [Anas querquedula) . — Two males, and certainly 

 one female, were seen almost daily by my brother, 

 Captain H. M. Stanford, on a certain marsh from April 20th 

 up to May 15th, 1919, but no nest was found. Usually the 

 two males were alone together, though we flushed a pair 

 off a dyke on May 15th, the last time we visited the marshes. 

 This bird has not been known to breed in the neighbourhood 

 or some years. 



