252 BRITISH BIRDS. [VoL i 
and Swallows in September, flying as a rule against the 
wind, north-west or north-north-west. 
Hoopor (Upupa e. epops). 
A Hoopoe at Thornham on September 3rd (8S. H. Long). 
Nearly every Norfolk occurrence of the Hoopoe in the last 
thirty-five years has been on the coast ; September being the 
favourite month. An inland record in 1910 (Zoologist, 1911, 
p. 166) originated in a mistake. 
LressER SpotreD Wooppreckrer (Dryobates m. comminutus). 
On the hardest day of the frost in February (the 7th) the 
jarring of this species could be heard among the beech trees 
faintly vibrating. This may have been an expiring effort in © 
the vain search for such wood-boring beetles (Hylesinus and 
Rhagium) as had outlived the extreme cold, if indeed any had 
done so. That both Woodpecker and beetles were soon dead 
can not be doubted. However, some must have survived, 
for a nest was examined on May 25th (Walter) or rather the 
hol>,t which was in a fir stump and only measured 1.5 
by 1.4.-in. 
Whether any Green Woodpeckers collapsed I do not know, 
or whether any resorted to the thatched roofs of cottages, 
where warmth from the chimneys gives insects a chance, of 
which the Woodpecker knows how to take advantage. 
LirrLe Own (Athene n. noctua). 
None appeared at Swainsthorpe, where they nested last 
year, but from statistics collected by Dr. Deacon and Dr. 
Long it seems that Little Owls were seen in Braconash hard. 
by, as well as at Easton, Great Melton, and other places. At 
Melton an identified egg + was taken from an oak tree 
(Bainbridge). On December 8th one appeared at Hempstead — 
for the first time : orders were at once issued for its protection. 
Another was trapped at Swanington (8S. H. Long). 
During one of the raid nights Owls were flying round the 
town of Cromer (H. Cole), species not identified. 
Barn-Owt (T'yto a. alba). 
THE BENEFITS IT CONFERS ON Man—On April Sth a 
Barn-Owl, brought into Norwich to be stuffed, proved to 
contain six shrew-mice, so recently swallowed that the last 
one + was still quite perfect. Last year on May 10th both 
our Owls were asleep in the Owl-tub on a very odoriferous 
congeries of mice— and rat— remains, together with five eggs, 
one of which was only about half the normal size. In an 
adjacent fork of the beech-tree were the bleached bones of 

