VOL. VIII.] NOTES. 197 



sfark-yavfls kill the ^VIIo\vhamnler with sticks, ami I was 

 (old \)\ one mail, who look some interest in l)ir(ls, that 

 although he did not think that the J*enfelen was as black 

 as it was painted, his ingrained repugnance for the bird 

 was such that he would not care to touch one with his naked 

 hands. I heard this strange tale from a Nevin resident 

 when I was in North Wales a short time ago. It was con- 

 firmed in its essentials l)y fishermen and peasants at Aberdaron 

 and Abersoch, and eviflently has wide credence in the Lleyn 

 Peninsula. It would be interesting to know whether the 

 belief obtains in other parts of Wales, or elsewhere. In 

 many parts of Scotland the Yellow Yite or Yellow Yeorling 

 is persecuted, for, so it is said, it drinks a drop of the deil's 

 blood ever}^ May morning, but the connection — if there 

 be one — between this libel and the one current in Lleyn 

 is obscure. Chas. Oldham. 



CHIFFCHAFF IN DORSETSHIRE IN DECEMBER. 



There was a C'hiffchaff (PhyUoscopus collyhita) in the garden 

 of the Royal Victoria Hotel at Swanage for about an hour 

 during the middle of the day on Thursday, December lOth, 

 1914. The previous night had been a very wild one with 

 an easterly gale. I noticed a distinct increase also in the 

 number of Song-Thrushes on the coast that morning. 



F. G. Penrose. 



LITTLE OWLS IN ESSEX. 



In November, 1914, a neighbour of mine at Bradfield, 

 north-east Essex, told me he had watched a small Owl in 

 an ivy-covered pollard about seven feet above gro\ind level. 

 The bird allowed him to approach wdthin a few feet, and 

 from his careful description it must have been a Little Owl 

 (Athene n. noctua). Walter B. Nichols. 



Mr. W. W. Hartwell informs me that he observed two 

 young Little Owls at Chingford on August 1st, 1914. 



William E. Glegg. 



[The above records, taken in conjunction with those 

 ]iublished in Vol. VI., p. 63, Vol. VII., i). 85, and previous 

 volumes, show that the Little Owl has now spread over most 

 of the county. — Eds.] 



HONEY-BUZZARD IN IRELAND. 



On November 15th, 1914, I shot a Honey-Buzzard {Perm's a. 

 (ipivoru)^) at Knock, Belfast. The strong noith-easterly 

 \vinds whic-h were then prevalent may have accoimtcd for 



