166 THE BIRDS OF DEVOX. 



shot at in North Devon in 1808. Dr. Edward Moore says a specimen pro- 

 cured at Plymouth was sent to Mr. Drew for preservation, and that 

 " another wis shot hij Mr. Comi/as a few i/ears since near DawUsh " (Trans. 

 Plym. Inst. 1830, p. 209). There is, perhaps, some error in the latter 

 statement, and probably the specimen alluded to was the same as that 

 nieutioned by Col. Montagu. One occurred near Ashburton in 1809 (A. 

 G, C. T.). Eellamy says it has been shot not far from Yealmpton (^at. 

 Hist. 8. Devon, p. 200). One was sent from Downes, near Crediton, the 

 seat of the Bullers, in October 18-31, to James Truscott (the Exeter bird- 

 stuffer) for preservation ( R. C). A specimen in the Torquay Museum 

 was taken at Pilsmore, Torquay, about September 180o (W. E.). These 

 two last specimens were most probablj- imported birds. 



The Little Owl, the emblematic bird of ancient Athens, sacred to 

 Pallas Athene, is almost annually brought over to this country and kept 

 in aviaries as an amusing pet, so that no confidence can be put in any of 

 the reported occurrences of it in a wild state. These we consider to have 

 been all escapes. Some of the so-called Little Owls were probably exam- 

 ])]es of the Xorth-European Tengmalm's Owl. One shot at large in the year 

 L850, at Winscombe, in Somerset — the locality which also produced an 

 example of the Hawk-Owl, which was in the possession of Mr. C. 

 Edwards, of the Grove, Wrington, who showed it to ns — was certainly 

 JS'ijctala teiif/mahni. Some tame Little Owls in our possession are ex- 

 tremely fond of cockroaches. Whenever a stranger approaches them 

 their contortions are most amusing. They bow repeatedly, jerking their 

 l)odies up and down in a telescopic fashion — all symptoms of nervous 

 alarm, as they never perform any of these antics when we go near them 

 to feed them. Our late friend, Mr. W, Urodrick, kept some in a roomy 

 chamber built for them in an old wall at his house, Little Hill, Chudleigh ; 

 they seemed quite at home in their comfortable quarters, and were in 

 beautiful plumage. 



Little ()wls have been imported into this country, and turned loose, in 

 some numbers. Certain of these birds, in a case well known to us, 

 survived the winter ; and there were three or four instances in whieh 

 they not only nested, but successfully reared their young in the following 

 summer in what was, virtually, a wild state. 



[Ohservatioji. — We avail ourselves of a vacant space on this pige of our book to 

 allude to two examples of the Egyptian Vulture, yeophro7i percnopteras (Liuii.), 

 which were seen near Kilve, in Somersetshire, on the shores of Bridgwater I3ay, in 

 October 1825. One of them was shot and proved to be in immature plumage. It 

 had gorged itself by feeding on the carcass of a dead sheep. Only one other example 

 of this s])ecies has occurred iu the Britisli Islands, and tiiat was killed on September 

 28tli, lbl)0. at Peklon in Essex. This 'S'ulture, in the adult plumage, is wiiite with 

 blai-k primaries ; the fore part of the head and neck yellow and bare of feathers, 

 whilst the immature birds are dark brown witii greyish head and neck. It is 

 generally seen in pairs, and inhabits the South of Europe, Madeira and other Atlantic 

 Islands, and North Africa, in winter occasion illy visiting the Cape Colony, where we 

 ourselves have seen it. and where it is known as the ' Witte Kraai,' or White Crow. 

 It is also found in Asia Minor and Persia, and has reached as far north as Norway. 

 The Grifrou Vulture, G//ps/alcui, Gm., has been obtained once iu Ireland.] 



