OCCASIONAL NOTES. 57 
When I first called Mr. Dover’s attention to the moan of the Long-eared 
Owl, he said it did not at all resemble the hoot of the Tawny Owl. Iam 
myself quite satisfied that neither Long-eared nor White Owls ever hoot, 
in the manner of, or like, the Tawny Owl.” 
Thus writes Mr. Warren, and we now turn to Mr. Dover. He says :— 
“Tt was our friend Warren who first told me what the bird was that I used 
to hear at night, when on my way to Castle Connor from Ballina. That it 
was the Long-eared Owl J have no doubt, but, at first, the cry was strange 
to me. Ona fine calm night the bird might be heard for a distance of a 
mile or two, thus, ‘hoo----hoo----hoo’ or ‘00----00---- 00,’ 
sounded very deep, and not so sharp as the ‘ 00, 00’ of the Tawny Owl: 
the latter is also silent for two or three minutes or so after each hoot; but, 
in the case of the Long-eared Owl, two or three seconds only elapse between 
each hoot. The Tawny Owl is very plentiful here, near Keswick, but the 
Long-eared very rare. From Sir C. Gore’s woods, near Ballina, I have 
listened to the hoot of the Long-eared Owl continuing for many minutes 
together, and after a pause resumed, and then ceasing again. The 
only other cry I have ever heard from it was from the young ones 
after they had left the nest; this was a sort of scream when they were 
wanting food from the parent birds, and when I beard this cry, the 
young ones seemed to be following the old birds about in the wood, 
and all keeping pretty near together."—A. G. Morr (Dublin Museum of 
Science and Art). 
Winter Visttants IN DevonsHtrE.—In November last a female Merlin 
was brought to me which had been shot at Newton St. Cyres, near Exeter, 
about the 18th of the month, and I secured it for this Museum. We have 
a male of this species, which was shot near Exeter on Augus: 18th, 1830, 
and a female taken in a net near Exeter, on September 6th, 1848. One 
was observed near Sidmouth in September, 1866. One was shot on 
October 22nd, 1873, having been seen a week previously on Dawlish 
Warren and at Exmouth. A specimen is recorded in ‘The Field’ as 
having been shot on Dartmoor in November, 1879. This little hawk may 
therefore be considered a rare autumnal and winter visitor to Devon. It is, 
however, said to have bred near Manaton, on the borders of Dartmoor. 
Several specimens of the Short-eared Owl reached the hands of the Exeter 
birdstuffers in November last. This Owl is not uncommon in some winters, 
such as 1865, 1866, 1867, and 1874. We have a specimen here which was 
killed in May, 1850, near Exeter. An immature specimen of the Great 
Northern Diver was killed at Exmouth at the end of November, and was 
purchased for this collection. Several immature specimens were obtained on 
the Exe in November and December, 1870, and one on January 16th, 1879. 
Others, both adult and immature, have occurred on the Exe, in summer as 
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