58 THE BIRDS OF NOETHAMPTONSmitE 



the present species, and declared that " this is the 

 bird/' 



I may here mention that I have been positively 

 assured by several friends of the former existence of 

 a very minute " Horned " Owl in Wakerley Wood, a 

 large covert belonging to Lord Exeter, not far from 

 BaiTOwden. The concurrent testimony of my various 

 informants was to the effect that a few of these little 

 birds were generally to be seen when the wood was 

 shot through, and that they were about the size of a 

 INlissel-Thrush. I never could discover that any one 

 had shot one, and the only time that I had the 

 pleasure of shooting in Wakerley Wood I found the 

 gamekeepers ignored the little Owls altogether. The 

 Scops Owl is a regular and, in some parts, a very 

 abundant summer migrant to Southern Europe ; but 

 has occurred in England and Ireland at almost all 

 seasons of the year. The probability of its beirg 

 met with in the covert shooting-season in any one 

 particular spot in this country is but small, but my 

 informants were so positive as to size, and the fact of 

 the birds being '■'■ Jicrmd'' Owls, that 1 can but tell 

 the story as it was told many times to me. I should 

 at once have considered the bird to be the Little 

 Owl {Athene 7wcfiia), also a rare visitor to this 

 country, though it ranges commonly further north- 

 wards on the continent of Europe than the Scops, 

 but the Little Owl is not "•/o;;?ff/," and I must 

 therefore leave my readers to draw their own 

 inferences. 



I have met with the Scops Owl in great abundance 

 in various parts of Spain and in the Ionian Islands, 

 in which countries it arrives from the south in Ajtril, 

 for the most part leaving again in November, though 



