4420 THE ZooLoGIsT—APRIL, 1875. 
geographical range being limited to the African continent south of the 
tropic of Cancer, with the exception of the Cape de Verd and Canary 
Islands, where it is believed to have been seen, and also with the possible 
exception of a straggling specimen said to have occurred in Greece. A 
nearly allied, but distinct species, H. vociferoides, represents it in Mada- 
gascar. ‘Two species of the genus Bubo inhabit South Africa—Bubo 
maculosus and Bubo capensis; the first, which is the more abundant 
species of the two, is exclusively South African, but the second has also been 
obtained in Abyssinia. Both are specifically distinct from the members of 
the genus Bubo inhabiting America, Europe, Asia and Northern Africa. 
Bubo capensis is also quite distinct from Phasmaptynx capensis, there being 
no less than six different species of owls in South Africa, to which the con- 
fusing appellation of ‘‘ capensis” has been attached by various authors. 
Another large horned owl, superior in size to Bubo maculosus and to 
B. capensis, also inhabits South Africa, and bears the name of Hulma 
Verreauxi.—J. H. Gurney ; March 5, 1875. 
Siskin nesting near Durham.—In December, 1874, I got a male siskin 
(Carduelis spinus), which had been taken the same year, when fledged, from 
a nest in a fir tree at Butcher’s Race, Tudhoe, near Durham.—Thomas J. 
Storey; Tudhoe, Durham, March 9, 1875. 
Hooded Crow attacking Partridges.—In the ‘ Zoologist’ for March (S.S. 
4881), I observe a notice of the killing of a redwing, on the wing, by a hooded 
crow—a fact thought worthy of record by the observer, Mr.Gurney. Several 
instances of an analogous kind have occurred either under my own observa- 
tion or within the scope of my knowledge. The two most remarkable were 
connected with the partridge. In the one case, a small covey of partridges 
was sprung on one of my glebe fields, only separated from my house by a 
road. They flew over a dry stone wall, separating my land from my neigh- 
bour’s, and on crossing this boundary passed immediately in front of two 
gray-backed crows, which were also on the wing. One of the latter made a 
dash at one of the partridges and struck it down. One of my sons and my 
farming man (the persons who had started the partridges) saw the deed dope, 
and the partridge carried off by the crow. The other instance was relctB 
to me by one of my parishioners. He was coming to market from Fryup 
Hall, his then residence, to Castleton, and saw a partridge, pursued and 
hard pressed by a gray-backed crow, take refuge in a hedge almost close to 
himself and his horse. He dismounted and secured the partridge. He 
mentioned the facts to me himself, and I had then, and have still, the most 
entire confidence in the truth of his statement. I have myself seen a crow 
of the same species stoop at a peewit, having the advantage of a surprise, 
as in the case of the partridges on my glebe, but without effect. The peewits 
at this time of year are frequently violent in their demonstrations against 
the graybacked crows.—J. C. Atkinson; Danby, March 20, 1875. 
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