130 THE BIRDS OF HAMPSHIRE. 
over which his beat lay, and that they were seldom seen 
in the woods like the other owls ; and he had seen them 
once or twice in the day-time. So I asked him to shoot 
me one for identification, with the result above-mentioned." 
On this occasion no nest was found. ^ 
In the year 1893 the same chronicler heard that a pair 
of these owls had haunted the same moorland throughout 
the summer, and saw two specimens killed in July and 
August respectively. The former " was very pale, possibly 
a female, but much mutilated and decomposed ; the latter, 
a dark-plumaged male, in good condition and perfect 
feather." 
Mr. Corbin naturally thought that these facts pointed 
to their breeding in the neighbourhood, though no nest 
was discovered.2 
Mr. W. H. Turle found a nest on Bransbury Common, 
near Longparish, in 1892, among the rushes by the river, 
and six young were successfully reared there. 
In the following summer he saw an old bird near 
the same place, but no nest was found. 
Mr. A. Trevor - Battye has recorded (" Avicultural 
Magazine," 1904) that a pair successfully brought off two 
young in the same locality in 1904, and he has kindly 
given us further particulars concerning these young birds, 
which, he tells us, were unable to fly when they were 
discovered in a mere scratching in the ground, in a rough, 
damp, grassy place, not near the river, as that situation 
was too wet. Eventually the birds flew and remained 
for long in the same locality, and he thinks they may 
still be there as he put up six there in the winter. Several 
of their castings were examined, and all were composed 
of remains of voles. 
^"Zoologist." 1885. =^ " Zoologist." 1893, 
