ORNITHOLOGICAL RHPORT FOR NORFOLK. 127 
JUNE. 
4th.—W. A Spoonbill on Breydon Broad which had no 
crest was joined on the 6th by another, and the pair, which both 
Mr. Patterson and Mr. Jary described as very young ones, 
remained until the 18th. If they were birds of this summer 
they were uncommonly early ones. 
9th.—Utility of the Barn-Owl.—Climbed to a Barn-Owl’s 
nest in a pollard-oak ; contents of the nest five young Owls (as 
usual of very different ages), two eggs (but these may have been 
rotten ones), a young rat, three or four fresh mice, and some 

OYSTERCATCHER’S NEST AND EGGs. 
pellets. No luminosity visible in the hollow, nor any game or 
feathers of any birds. What a pity it is that so many good 
gamekeepers will not allow themselves to be convinced by their 
own senses that the Barn-Owl is a friend! If this bird caught 
its food by day instead of by night they would have ocular 
demonstration of its utility. I have known a single keeper to 
destroy fourteen of these useful birds under the impression that 
he was doing his master a good service! One of my Barn-Owl’s 
trees, a noble elm, was blown down this winter, giving me another 
