124 
THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
the dark heads and spotted skins of the grubs, being un- 
mistakable. I had observed very similar, if not identical, 
grubs a few days previously upon a rose-tree, and wondered 
if the comparatively mild autumn had been favourable to 
the development of these particular flies, as several months 
ago the same tree was almost stripped of its leaves by what 
I suppose was the same species of larva. From the few 
ornithological works to which I have access, it seems that 
this wandering bird is only a straggler to these islands, and 
only in the autumn, mostly in October. 
" Since writing the foregoing, I showed the bird to a man 
who is often near the river with his gun, and without hesi- 
tation he said he saw the bird, or another like it, more than 
a month ago, one evening when he was out duck shooting, 
and should have killed it but for the large shot in his 
cartridges. This was some distance from where the bird 
was shot, so there might have been more than one in the 
vicinity." 
Order— STRIGES. 
Family — Strigidcs. 
118. Strix flammea, Barn-Owl. 
Screech Owl. White Owl. 
" Alone and warming his five wits, 
The white owl in the belfry sits." 
Tennyson's The OwlP 
A resident in all parts of the county and Isle of 
Wight. Generally distributed and not uncommon any- 
where. 
