430 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



district I found eggs of the Cuckoo all in Sedge-Warblers' nests, and 

 absolutely ideutical, for four successive seasons (1903-6 inclusive), 

 which leaves no doubt in my mind that the eggs were the production of 

 one bird. This certainly seems very remarkable when one considers 

 for a moment all the risks migration entails. — D. W. Mussel-White 

 (7, Jessica Road, Wandsworth Common). 



Spread of the Little Owl in Herts. — Noticing the note in the last 

 number of ' The Zoologist ' [ante, p. 384) about this species, I thought 

 it might be of interest to record what I could find out about it in the 

 neighbourhood of Ware, Herts ; so I wrote to my grandfather, T. F. 

 Buxton, Esq., of Easneye, Ware, to ask him what he had observed in 

 that neighbourhood. He tells me that they first appeared in the spring 

 of 1897 ; that year they nested in an old pear-tree at Little Briggins 

 Farm. They brought off two young, one of which was picked up 

 dead. The old birds and the single young one stayed about, and next 

 spring (1898) they nested again. This time it was in the loft of a barn, 

 among some hurdles which were being stored there. No one knew of 

 the nest until, unfortunately, it was found and disturbed in removing 

 the hurdles for use. The foreman in charge at once stopped the work 

 and locked the loft, but the nest with four eggs was deserted. The 

 Owls stayed about till that autumn, and then disappeared. This 

 species is still sometimes heard of in that neighbourhood. — P. A. 

 Buxton (32, Great Cumberland Place, London, W.j. 



Little Owl (Athene noctua) Breeding in Hertfordshire. — In con- 

 nection with Mr. Stuart Maples' note on the occurrences of the Little 

 Owl in Hertfordshire during 1906 {ante, p. 353), and Mr. Steele- 

 Elliott's account of the spread of the species in Bedfordshire (pp. 384, 

 385), it will be of interest to record that the Little Owl has been dis- 

 covered breeding in Hertfordshire in two instances this past spring. A 

 nest was found about the middle of June near Watton-at-Stone by 

 some boys who saw the parent bird fly from a decaying oak. The nest 

 was in a deep hole about ten feet from the ground, and contained four 

 young just ready to fly. They were caught the same evening when 

 they left the nest-hole and perched on the branches to be fed. Two of 

 them were released after being kept in captivity for some weeks ; the 

 other two are still in cages in this village, and are in good health and 

 plumage, having become quite tame. Mr. W. Percival Westell has 

 informed me of another nest found this year between St. Albans and 

 Hatfield. It was in a hole in a willow-tree, and, although one of the 

 birds was shot by a keeper, the young were safely reared. Mr. Westell 

 adds : — " Several keepers have reported to me the presence of this 



