A HISTORY OF NORFOLK among those which visit us in autumn. A good example of this race, killed near Nor- wich in December, 1864, is in the Castle Museum. 1 26. Long-eared Owl. Aiio otus (Linn.). A resident in summer ; the bulk of our home birds go south in autumn, when their places are filled by immigrants. 127. Short-eared Owl. Am accipitrinus (Pallas). A nest or two of the short-eared owl is generally found in certain localities in Nor- folk, where it formerly bred freely, but it is now chiefly known as an autumn migrant, sometimes arriving in considerable numbers about the same time as the woodcock, hence it is often called the ' woodcock owl.' 128. Tawny or Wood-Owl. Syrnium aluco (Linn.). Generally distributed in suitable localities, but is less Frequent than formerly. 129. Tengmalm's Owl. Nyctala tengmalmt (Gmelin). Tengmalm's owl has been killed or taken alive three times in Norfolk. 130. Little Owl. Athene noctua (Scopoli). Specimens have been obtained in Norfolk in a few instances previous to the year 1876. These are all presumably genuine occur- rences ; but on the date mentioned six were liberated in the woods at Kimberley, render- ing subsequent examples doubtful. 131. Snowry Owl. Nyctea scandiaca (Linn.). This fine owl has been met with in nine instances in Norfolk, of course always in winter. 132. Scops-Owl. Scops giu l^zopoW). This rare little owl has been recorded nine times, but it is probable the only reliable in- stances are as follows : one at Cromer in November, i86l ; a second at Walsingham in May, 1891 ; and a third near Holt in November, 1892. [Eagle-owl. Bubo ignavus, T. Forster. A specimen was killed at Somerton in 1863 or 1864, but may possibly have been an escape.] 133. Marsh - Harrier. Circus aruginosus (Linn.). Locally, Moor-Buzzard. This is now a rare bird. Its last abiding- place is in the rough herbage surrounding some of the broads, where a pair or two generally make an unsuccessful attempt to rear a brood, birds and eggs or young in most cases meeting with an untimely end. It is difficult to imagine how greatly these birds abounded both in the broads and in the fens of west Norfolk at the beginning of the century. Mr. Lubbock, writing in 1845, says that all the wounded birds fell to the share of the moor-buzzard, and calls it ' the genus loci — the sovereign of the place.' In the spring of i8i8 nine were trapped at a single duck's nest. In Feltwell Fen, on the other side of the county, they seem to have been even more numerous ; but in this latter locality buzzards and fen alike are things of the past. 134. Hen-Harrier. Circus cyaneus (Linn.). This probably never was so numerous as the next species ; it certainly is not so now, and those which visit us are mostly migrants. It does not seem so partial to the broads as Montagu's harrier, and perhaps some of the nests attributed to this bird may have be- longed to the latter species. 135. Montagu's Harrier. Circus cineraceus (Montagu). In the palmy days of the harriers all alike were known as buzzards, and this species was not distinguished from the preceding, but it certainly was by far the most numerous. At present scarcely a year passes without one or more nests being found in its old haunts, but it is probable that few birds escape, and still fewer succeed in rearing a brood. 136. Common Buzzard. Buteo vulgaris. Leach. A spring and autumn visitor with us, though perhaps not quite so regular in its appearance of late years as formerly, but like all the birds of prey it is rare in adult plum- age. 137. Rough-legged Buzzard. Archibuteo la- gopus (Gmelin). This buzzard visits us in autumn, some- times in considerable numbers, seldom in adult plumage. 138. Golden Eagle. Aquila chryscj?tus {hinn.). The golden eagle has never been met with alive in this county so far as is known, and our only claim to it as a Norfolk bird rests upon a dead individual found in a marsh at StifiFkey, in November, 1868. 139. White-tailed Eagle. Haliah'tus albicilla (Linn.). This is a rather frequent autumn or winter visitor, but has not hitherto been killed here in adult plumage. 234
