NOTES FROM NORFOLK. 83 



it, and it was taken to my father the same afternoon. It had 

 probably been attracted by the light. 



On May 26th, a female Sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus, allowed 

 herself to be caught with the hand while sitting on four eggs, 

 which were hard sat, but not at the point of hatching. A some- 

 what similar case of a Sparrowhawk allowing herself to be touched 

 on a cold winter's night happened to Mr. E. C. Phillips (Zool. 

 1881, p. 407). 



About the end of November five live Barn Owls, Stria; 

 flammed, were brought to my father from Gunton, two of which 

 had been taken out of a hollow tree, and three caught in a pole- 

 trap. The keeper who caught them stated that he had recently 

 taken fourteen others in the same trap. There are several 

 manors in Norfolk where a Barn Owl is never intentionally 

 killed ; there are, unfortunately, a still greater number where the 

 birds are indiscriminately slaughtered. Tubs have been put up 

 for them at Northrepps for years. On one occasion, having 

 taken ninety-eight pellets out, I had the curiosity to have them 

 soaked in water, when they yielded twenty-one small birds, all 

 Sparrows or Finches, eight Rats, many Field Mice, and a few 

 Shrews. On another occasion the same tub yielded remains of a 

 Thrush, eight young Bats, one Shrew, and about twenty Field 

 Mice ; and on another, one bird (apparently a Thrush), six young 

 Bats, four Shrews, and three Field Mice. This gives a pretty 

 good idea of their general food, and never on any occasion was 

 any trace of game met with. The Norwich birdstuffers say the 

 taste for Barn Owls is dying out ; they used to receive a great 

 number, now Kingfishers and Squirrels are all the rage. I fear 

 this is from no spirit of leniency to the Owls, but because they 

 are getting really scarce. In days when they were plentiful, 

 I have counted nearly fifty Barn Owls in a Norfolk birdstuffer's 

 shop, but hope never to see such a sight again. Four of the 

 Owls above mentioned were turned out at Keswick, and a few 

 days afterwards one of them was found clinging to a pony's tail, 

 quite dead ! the pony having most probably lain on the Owl, or 

 trodden upon it, when its long shaggy tail was the most likely 

 thing for the death-grip of those sharp claws to fix in. 



Mr. G. Smith, of Great Yarmouth, writes that on January 6th, 

 thousands of Bedwings, Fieldfares, Missel Thrushes, Larks, and 

 Linnets were passing Yarmouth, that the flight lasted all day, 



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