THE BIRDS OF BRECONSHIRE. 407 
light a hawk darted round the corner and took one of them; 
a lucky shot laid him low, and on picking him up the culprit was 
found to be a Kestrel. 
SPARROWHAWE, Accipiter nisus.—Very common. I once found 
a Sparrowhawk in a singular situation; going to my garden in 
Brecon one night in the dead of winter, to catch some game 
bantams that roosted in a thick holly-tree, I turned a lantern on 
them suddenly, and there saw a hen Sparrowhawk roosting close 
by the bantams! I carefully put my hand over its back, but 
directly I touched her she dashed off into the darkness and I saw 
her no more; what she was doing there I cannot make out, but I 
imagine that the night being bitterly cold she must have crept up 
to the fowls for warmth. On another occasion during a continued 
snow I saw a Sparrowhawk make a most determined attack on a 
duck-wing bantam cock, and bad she not been driven off I believe 
she would have killed him. A station-master who lives on the 
borders of this county, and who keeps canaries in the large glass 
window of the station, tells me that he has caught three Sparrow- 
hawks that have struck at the canaries, two of which dashed 
right through the glass and were killed, and the other stunned 
itself and was picked up outside the window. 
LonG-EARED Ow1t, Otus vulgaris.—I consider very rare here. 
Mr. Dilwyn Llewellyn has observed it in Glamorganshire. I 
have known of so very few specimens, that I imagine it favours 
Glamorganshire more than this county. 
SHORT-EARED OwL, Otus brachyotus—Also very uncommon. 
Although I have for years shot over open heaths and the like 
places, I have never seen it. It is, however, fairly common in 
Glamorganshire. 
Brown Owt, Syrniwm aluco.—Much commoner than the Barn 
Owl. In nearly all the woods about Brecon, and in the Priory- 
groves adjoining the town, as evening approaches one may hear 
them. They frequent a iarge elm-tree growing close to my 
house, where they terrify the servants, who are most super- 
stitious, with their cries. Among the Welsh it is considered 
most unlucky to kill an owl, but whether this accounts for their 
numbers is more than I can say; it may possibly have something 
to do with it. 
Wuite or Barn Own, Strix flammea.—Common throughout 
the county, but not nearly so numerous as the last-named. 
