of Comp^ 

 Z«o!ogy 



C OCT 11 1S45 



^V > SHORT-] 



EARED OWL AND EAGLE OWL. 49 



Mr. Thomas Stephenson, of Whitby, informs me that Mr. 

 WilHam Lister has seen the young birds taken from a nest on the 

 Egton Moors, near Whitby, about the year 1850, and does not 

 doubt that even now they occasionally breed there. On the 

 Danby Moors, also in Cleveland, Mr. W. H. Raw has found at least 

 four nests, all of which contained young birds, and were placed 

 among " old heather broken down and dead at the roots." The 

 young did not in any instance exceed three in number. Mr. Raw 

 found the last nest in 1867 or 1868, soon after which date he 

 left the locality, so that he thinks it is quite possible that they 

 may still breed there. 



In concluding my account of this species, mention should 

 be made of the fact that " Hawk Owl" is a name by which it is 

 known in some parts of the county; and the result of my 

 inquiries and the examination of specimens has been to prove 

 that the "Hawk Owls" reported to have occurred in Yorkshire 

 have in every instance been examples of the Short-eared Owl. 

 The Hawk Owl {Surnia fimerea), so far as I have been able to 

 ascertain, has never occurred in this county. With respect to the 

 example quoted by Mr. Harting in his Handbook of British Birds 

 as having occurred at Shelf near Bradford, the result of such 

 inquiries as I have been able to make has been eminently- 

 unsatisfactory, and I do not feel justified in including the species 

 as a Yorkshire bird on the strength of this record. 



BUBO IGNAYUS T. Forster 

 Eagle Owl. 



A rare and accidental visitor. 



The earliest allusion to this species as a Yorkshire bird is 

 made by Pennant in 1768 (British Zoology, i., p. 157) who stated 

 that it had once been shot in the county. There are also several 



B4 



