25<> 



part of South America, and, though absent in Australia and Oceania, it is found in the Sandwich 

 Islands. 



In Great Britain it is widely distributed ; a large proportion, however, especially of those which 

 visit the southern district, are winter visitors, which appear from the north in the late autumn ; 

 but it breeds sparingly in some parts of England, and more commonly in Scotland. I do not find 

 it recorded as nesting in the south of England; but Mr. A. G. More says (Ibis, 1865, p. 15) that 

 it " breeds in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridge, formerly also in Huntingdon." Professor Newton 

 says that he found two young birds on a dry heath at Elveden, in Suffolk, in 1854, and that in 

 the same year at least two nests were taken in the fens of the south-west of Norfolk. He also 

 says that some eggs taken at Littleport in the Isle of Ely in 1864 are the latest in this part of 

 England which have come to his knowledge. There is no doubt that it used formerly to breed 

 regularly in our eastern counties ; but as the fens got reclaimed it gradually ceased to remain 

 there during the nesting-season ; and it appears now never to breed in Norfolk ; for Mr. Stevenson 

 writes (B. of Norfolk, i. p. 50) as follows : — " This species visits us regularly and pretty nume- 

 rously in the autumn, though scarcely in such numbers as in former years, arriving in September 

 and October about the same time as the Woodcocks, from which circumstance it is generally 

 known as the Woodcock-Owl. In the spring these birds again proceed northwards towards the 

 end of March, having, I believe, entirely ceased to breed in Norfolk." Mr. Cordeaux says (B. of 

 Humber Distr. p. 14) that he has no positive evidence of its remaining to breed in the Humber 

 district, but in 1870 a pair remained all the summer near the Aylesby beck; and Mr. More 

 states {I. <?.), on the authority of Mr. A. S. Bell, that its nest has once or twice been taken near 

 Scarborough. It breeds in Durham and Northumberland ; and, according to the late Sir W. 

 Jardine, it probably nests also in the moorlands of Westmoreland and Cumberland. In Scotland 

 it is, Mr. Robert Gray says (B.. of W. of Scotl. p. 57), resident all the year in the west, north of 

 Ayrshire, and thirty years ago it was a permanent resident as far south as Portpatrick, in Wig- 

 townshire, where it nested regularly. In the Outer Hebrides it breeds on the moors of nearly 

 all the islands ; and among the inner islands it is resident all the year in Skye, Mull, and Islay. 

 In the Shetland Isles it is said by Mr. Saxby to be quite common in the spring and autumn, the 

 average time of its arrival being the 25th of April and the 16th of October. On rare occasions 

 it remains to breed in Yell and Mainland. In Ireland it is not known with certainty to breed ; 

 but it is a regular winter visitant to that island. 



Professor Newton says that it is " a scarce species in Greenland, but perhaps breeds there, 

 though not further to the southward than 65°. Its northern range is altogether unknown ; but 

 it has been shot on the green islands in Disco Bay, lat. 68° 50' N. It appears very doubtful if 

 it is really found in Iceland, as the only ground on which it has been included is a figure on a 

 plate of Olafsen's, which Dr. Kruper considers to represent the present species ; but Faber refers 

 it to the Wood-Owl, which can scarcely be correct 



It occurs in the Faeroes, where Mr. H. C. Miiller has seen several examples; but he never 

 found it breeding there. In Scandinavia it is common during the summer and on passage, but 

 appears never to remain there during the winter. Mr. Collett writes to me respecting it in 

 Norway as follows : — " Its range with us is almost subalpine ; for it breeds in the lowlands only 

 in exceptional cases, but commonly on all the fells in and above the birch-region. It is found 



