OCCASIONAL NOTES. 461 



Mr. More writes : — " 1 have carefully examined Dr. Burkitt's large Owl, 

 and I find that it is an African species, viz. the Spotted Eagle Owl, Bubo 

 maculosus, Vieill., a hird which Mr. Layard describes as ' the commonest 

 Owl in South Africa,' and Mr. Sharpe, in the British Museum Catalogue 

 of Birds, gives for its range ' The whole of South Africa, as high as the 

 Zambesi on the east coast and to Benguela on the west.' To make quite 

 sure of the name, I lately took the bird with me to the British Museum, 

 and, with the kind assistance of my friend Mr. Sharpe, compared it 

 with African specimens, so that no doubt can remain as to its correct 

 identification. I hope you will be able to obtain from Dr. Burkitt the full 

 particulars of its capture and history." Having returned the bird to 

 Dr. Burkitt, with a request for some information concerning its capture, 

 he wrote to me as follows : — " This Owl lay almost unnoticed, and conse- 

 quently unrecorded, for several years in my collection of native birds, as 

 you are aware, until brought to light by yourself; for happening, at the 

 time it came into my possession, unfortunately, to be very fully occupied 

 with other matters, and not being aware of its rarity, I took but scant 

 notice of this bird, merely inserting the locality of capture, the name of 

 donor, now several years dead, skinning, preserving, mounting, and placing 

 it amongst my Irish birds, as you discovered it. This bird, when presented 

 to me by the late John Dobbyn, Esq., of Woodlands, Co. Waterford, 27th 

 Jauuary, 1851, was apparently some days dead, and struck me at the time 

 as having been a good deal handled, but was brought to me in the flesh, 

 and skinned, mounted, &c, by my own hands. Mr. Dobbyn informed me 

 that he had shot it in Bellake plantations (since nearly all cut down) in 

 the vicinity of Wood-town, Co. Waterford." We are thus indebted to 

 Dr. Burkitt (who has collected and stuffed native birds in Waterford for 

 over fifty years) for the addition to the British fauna of three species, 

 the Spotted Eagle Owl, the Hawk Owl, and the Gold-vented Thrush. 

 The two last-named, having come to the knowledge of Yarrell, found a 

 place in his ' History of British Birds,' while the first-named, with the 

 same claims to recognition, has until now remained unnoticed. That a 

 straggler from so distant a region should visit Ireland is not more strange 

 than the occurrence, in 1838, of the Gold-vented Thrush, another African 

 species, which Dr. Burkitt also obtained in the flesh in Waterford, both 

 these birds having, singularly enough, occurred in the month of January. 

 Dr. Burkitt's label, affixed to the Owl in 1862, is as follows: — " Strix 

 Bubo? Linn. — a nondescript, or is it Eagle Owl? — shot near Bell Lake 

 Co. Waterford, Jan. 1851. Presented by John Dobbyn, Esq., of Wood- 

 lands. Marked this Owl formerly as Striae Ulula, or Hawk Owl. R. B. 1862." 

 An entry in Dr. Burkitt's journal, made in 1851, is to the same effect. 

 I may remark that Mr. John Dobbyn, who shot this Owl, was Dr. Burkitt's 

 brother-in-law. — Richard J. Usshek fCappagb, Co. Waterford). 



