172 



BIRDS. 



request, and the outcome points in the above direction. Mr. John 

 Fowlis told Mr. Berry that he never heard of seventy owls having 

 been seen in a flock anywhere on Admiral Maitland Dougall's grounds 

 on Tents Muir ; besides, the number amounts to the same of the 

 largest flight of Pallas's Sand-Grouse, which were known to be haunt- 

 ing that reach of sand-hills at that time. 



Asio accipitrinus (Pall). Short-eared Owl. 



Eesident. Uncommon as a breeding species; but said to breed 

 abundantly, or to have done so, by Mr. Booth in 1865-6, or 1867. 



Keported as an autumn migrant only in the north-east by Dr. 

 Dewar ; but Mr. J. Milne believed for a long period of time that they 

 bred in rabbit-holes, several Owls' nests having been found in such 

 situations in Monboddo Woods in different seasons. This was first 

 communicated to Col. Drummond Hay, who appears to have accepted 

 the statement, no doubt trusting to Mr. Milne's usually correct 

 knowledge and care. Col. Drummond Hay said on that occasion : 

 " This is the first authentic instance of its actually breeding in the 

 district." I was, however, very dubious, and made further careful 

 inquiries. Mr. Milne, soon after Col. Drummond Hay's death, in 

 a letter to me, makes it appear that the whole evidence was built 

 upon the statement of a keeper at Monboddo, and the appearance of a 

 clutch of eggs seen by an "English naturalist." One nest, however, 

 appears to bear some slightly better authenticity. Mr. Nelson, of 

 Redcar, told me "they were found on a hillside above Monboddo in a 

 nest on the ground made in rough grass and heather." Mr. Eagle 

 Clarke also saw these eggs (Mr. Nelson in lit., 17th April 1904). Mr. 

 Nelson was there in 1901, and he was told that they bred on 

 Heisha Moors. 



Before Mr. Milne resiled from previous accounts by him, he told 

 me that " a party brought in four eggs of a Short-eared Owl." These, 

 he said, "were got in a rabbit's hole about six inches from the 

 entrance." But, Mr. Milne adds, "this is the first instance I have 

 known of their nesting here for the last thirty years. I don't think," 

 he continues, " there can be any doubt about this, for the bird was 

 sitting close on hard-set eggs, and the party treading on the mouth 

 of the hole flushed it, and he had a close view of the bird." 



But I was still sceptical. However, in a later letter, upon my 

 pressing, Mr. Milne resiled from all these records of Short-eared 

 Owls nesting in rabbit-holes in the north-east, and I am sure he 



