('Zoologist,' 1865, p. 9418, and 1867, p. 829). On the 25th September, 1876, a Purple Gallinule was shot near Grange in Furness, Lancashire, by Robert Allan, gamekeeper to Mr. E. Mucklow, of Castle Head, Grange, and was preserved by Kirkby, the taxidermist, of Ulverston. We are further informed by the Rev. E.W. Dowell, of Dunton Vicarage, Fakenham, Norfolk, that an adult bird of this species was killed in one of the head streams of the Wensum River, at Tatterford, early in October, 1876. Mr. John Marshall, of Belmont, Taunton, has a bird of this species in his collection, which he purchased some years ago at Mr. Troughton's sale, and which was labelled as killed in Ireland. Thompson, in his 'Natural History of Ireland' (Birds, vol. ii. p. 331, note), refers to a specimen of this bird which was found about the first week of November, 1845, lying dead in a ditch near the village of Brandon, on the coast of Kerry.—Ed.]
Occurrence of the Little Owl in Sussex.—On the 16th March last I saw in the shop of Mr. Pratt, naturalist, Brighton, a specimen of the Little Owl (Noctua passerina), which had been shot the previous evening in an orchard close to the town of New Shoreham. It was in most perfect plumage, not showing the slightest sign of having been in confinement. On dissection it proved to be a female, and the ovary contained about thirty eggs, of which four were considerably advanced. The stomach contained nothing but a few grains of gravelly detritus. This is only the second specimen I have met with, or heard of as having been killed in this county. The first, a male in my collection, was obtained, also in an orchard, near Fletching Park, in May, 1843. The female bird, which I have now secured, is rather the larger bird of the two.—William Borrer (Cowfold, Horsham).
[The synonymy of this species, is extremely confused, scarcely two writers being agreed as to the name it should bear. It is clear, however, that it is not the Strix passerina of Linnaeus, which is a perfectly distinct and much smaller European species, and has not been met with in this country. In his new edition of Yarrell's 'British Birds,' Prof. Newton, following Prof. Sundevall, identifies it with the Strix noctua of Scopoli, and points out (vol. i. p. 118) that as the generic names Athene and Noctua are preoccupied in Entomology, its proper designation, according to the Rules of Zoological Nomenclature, is Carine noctua (Scopoli).—Ed.]
Note on the Short-eared Owl.—On the 3rd April a Short-eared Owl was sent to me by an experienced and intelligent gamekeeper in the parish of Northrepps, Norfolk, with a note, from which the following is extracted:—"Lately we have seen where three Partridges have been killed, and yesterday morning the remains of a fourth were brought to me, which, after carefully examining, I considered to be the work of an Owl, so a trap was set in the evening, baited with the remains of the Partridge. The trap was watched, and just after dusk an Owl was seen working the
