Book Notices and Reviews. 
137 
witli many interesting traits — to me wiien I kept him he was 
a lirst favourite and I'cgular centre of interest. Look after 
himself he certainly does, and drive away all iati'udcrs from 
tiie precincts of Jiis little castle, the fortress of the coming sons 
and daughters, he does in no half-hearted fashion, but, for 
Iwth of these traits I certainly do not blame iiim, and, I hope 
he will long remain an ol)ject of inteiest and beauty in many 
English aviaries. 
Book Notices and Reviews. 
TTi'riN(inAM Scnooi. N.\ ri'itAi. Sciknc r. Rkpoim : 1911.— The Rev. 
W. J. ("oiistable lias favoured us with a copy of this report. Interest in 
Natural History is evediently more than luaiiitaincd, and the report contains 
many interesting items; such as; 
" Wiin'KTHUO.A.T (St/lria riifii ): Not nearly so numerous as in previous 
"years; nest and five eggs, near Uppingham, May 17th. F.R.; nest and two 
" eggs. May '25th. Stockerston, ("oleman; nest and four young, (Jlaston, 
" May 27th. C.E.W. " 
"Gkkk.n Woodpeckkk [Gerimtx riridix) ; common; on account of the 
" difficulty of inspecting nests without destroying it, only one lot of eggs 
" were recorded, six eggs, Glaston, May '27th. T. R.: seen daily. Stoke Dry, 
" G.T. 
" 'L\TV\.v. 0\\\. {Athene iiiK'titdj-Md.^ now become very common; fre- 
"((uently seen; there were as many as fifteen obsei vations of nests. These 
" included thirty-one eggs and fourteen young. " 
The following reprinted from the " Field" Feb. 17, iyi'2.. will probably 
interest many readers and not be out of place in connection with the report- 
" H.viUTS or THE Lrn'i.E Owi-. -As many of your readers are probab- 
" ly aware, the late Lord Lilford released numbers of the Little Owl for a 
' succession of years from his aviaries at Lilford. The result has been, so 
" far as the neighbourhood of Up])ingham is concerned, that this bird has 
" become gradually naturalised, and is now, comparative speaking common. 
" Records of the birds of this neighbourhood are publishised annually by 
"the ornithological section of the Uppingham School N.S.S., and lam able 
" to give the history of the gradual natuialisation of this Little Owl. It 
" began to be reported as an occasional visitor in 1895, and from that year 
" onward the number of observations has gradually increased until in 1905 
" it is described as " not uncommon. " In 191)9 it has become "common, 
" frequently seen and heard. " Last year in fifteen expeditions of the 
" society it was seen at least once on every occasion, and .sometimes six or 
" seven were seen in the course of the afternoon: nests and eggs were fre- 
" quently found. The actual number of observations sent in was fifteen, 
"and these included thirty-one eggs and fourteen j'oung. It is now more 
"frequently seen than any kind of owl, and may be heard on the outskirts 
" of the town almost every night of the year. The nesting holes and 
