236 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



minutes after the moans again began further off in the wood, but as I 

 walked up to the place the sounds ceased, a bird flew off, giving a few 

 flaps of its wings, as in the first instance, and then for over an hour 

 the moans were resumed all round the place, but, although seeing the 

 bird, I could not identify it, but came to the conclusion that from its 

 mode of noiseless flight it was some species of Owl. For several 

 evenings afterwards, while the moonlight lasted, I followed the bird 

 (gun in hand), but, owing to it cunningly leaving the opposite side of 

 the trees from me, I did not obtain the chance of a shot, and so the 

 puzzle as to the species remained unsolved. However, a week or two 

 later, as I was riding home from Ballina at nightfall, I heard the 

 moans proceeding from a tree in a roadside plantation ; so, stopping 

 my horse, I listened to the sound, carefully watching the trees for 

 some time, when, to my delight and satisfaction, I perceived a fine 

 Long-eared Owl on a branch of a larch-tree in the very act of moaning. 

 Then, a few evenings later, I saw another bird on a tree in the lawn, 

 about twenty yards from the hall-door, where it remained for nearly 

 half an hour moaning. The difficulty I had in identifying the bird 

 (until I saw it in the act of moaning) was that in no ornithological 

 work that I have had access to was any description given of the 

 seasonal call of the male Long-eared Owl; neither in Thompson, 

 Yarrell, Montagu, &c, is any mention of it. This silence is strange, 

 for surely those who had heard the cry of the young must have more 

 easily in the same woods heard the moans of the male. — Eobert 

 Warren (Moy View, Ballina). 



Position of Sitting Birds in Relation to the Wind. — Brooding 

 birds face the wind when exposed thereto, and this may account for 

 the changes in position assumed by the Hedge-Accentor observed by 

 Mr. J. H. Gurney (cf. ante, p. 165). It was noted that the changes 

 were in the same direction, viz. to the left, so that we may suppose 

 they represented adjustments of position in relation to changes in the 

 direction of the wind. Not only is a positiou facing the wind the most 

 convenient for a sitting bird, but it also best enables it to hear, and 

 perhaps scent, enemies. It would hardly be necessary, from the small 

 number of eggs covered, and the compact form of the nest, for a Hedge- 

 Accentor to turn from time to time in order " to distribute the warmth 

 of her body more equally." I may be allowed to congratulate Mr. 

 Gurney upon his interesting observations. — W. Buskin Butterfield 

 (4, Stanhope Place, St. Leonards-on-Sea). 



Notes on the Ornithology of Richmond Park, Surrey. — I am able 

 to add one species to the very remarkable lists of birds (ante, pp. 147 



