BIRDS 109. Kingfisher. Akedo ispiJd, Linn. Resident ; except in the Launceston district and on the Camel and the Fowey, scarcer now during the breeding season than formerly, but still widely spread throughout the county ; more abundant in winter than in summer except about Launceston. Has occurred at Tresco, Bryher, St. Mary's, and Tean, and among the western rocks as an accidental winter visitor, almost always singly. no. Roller. Coracias garrulus, Linn. An accidental vagrant, obtained at least seven times in W. Cornwall, the two last records being Land's End, June, 1861 ; and St. Burian, October, 1887. Not recorded for Scilly. in. Bee-eater. Merofs aplaster, Linn. A rare accidental straggler ; four seen and two killed at Madron in 1807, twelve seen and eleven killed at Helston in May, 1828 ; one repeatedly seen at Scilly, June, 1878 ; two or three seen and one, a male, shot at Holy Vale, St. Mary's, in October, 1901. 112. Hoopoe. Upttpa epops, Linn. A regular spring visitor in small numbers, occasion- ally repassing in autumn. In 1901 a pair nested near St. Columb. Five eggs were laid, of which four were hatched, and the young birds were successfully reared. In April, 1903, five were seen together on Castle Down, Tresco. 113. Cuckoo. Cuculus canorus, Linn. A summer migrant, not nearly so common as in the midland counties, but generally distributed ; remark- ably common about Truro in 1892 ; in most years common about the Lizard and at Scilly. At Holy Vale, St. Mary's, as many as nine have been seen at one time. 114. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Cuculus americanus (Linn.). A rare accidental straggler ; one Cornish specimen referred to by Yarrell, and one picked up dead near Helston in October, 1887. 115. White or Barn Owl. Strix flammea, Linn. Resident ; formerly much commoner in the east than in the west of the county, but through foolish persecution now almost extinct in many districts ; increasing about Launceston and St. Minver. A single specimen shot by Jenkinson, 13 November, 1858, is the only record for Scilly. 1 1 6. Long-eared Owl. Asio oils (Linn.). A winter visitor in the east and throughout the south of the county, but a casual in the north ; commoner in the west than in the east, but evidently local. Common at Scilly in autumn and winter, not infrequently occurring with the short-eared owl. Chiefly found on Tresco. 117. Short-eared Owl. Asio accipitrinus (Pallas). Locally, Woodcock Owl. A winter visitor to the greater part of the county and to Scilly, but most in evidence in the east on autumn migration ; usually more abundant than the preceding species. In some years very common at the Lizard. 1 1 8. Tawny Owl. Syrnium aluco (Linn.) Resident ; generally distributed through the wood- land districts, and in some places abundant. 119. Little Owl. Athene noctua (Scopoli). A rare accidental straggler ; one specimen killed at Constantino in 1828 and one at St. Keverne in 1830 ; subsequent records doubtful. 1 20. Snowy Owl. Nyctea scandiaca (Linn.). An accidental straggler till lately represented by a single storm-battered specimen found near St. Germans in 1838, and recorded by Bellamy in his Natural History of South Devon, p. 201. Couch saw it in the Rev. Mr. Hore's collection, and mentions it in his Cornish Fauna. 1 In September, 1905, an adult bird was shot on St. Martin's, Scilly, and is now in the Abbey Collection. 121. Hawk Owl. Surnia funerea (Linn.). A rare accidental wanderer ; a single specimen of the dark American form taken in an exhausted con- dition from the rigging of a collier off the coast of Cornwall in March, 1830.* % 122. Scop's Owl. Scops giu (Scopoli). A rare accidental wanderer ; one captured in an exhausted condition on Tresco, in the first week of April, 1847 ; one at Trevethoe, near Hayle, in January, 1871. Vingoe had two Cornish specimens that probably also came from Scilly. 123. Marsh Harrier. Circus aeruginoius (Linn.). Now a rare casual, but formerly bred in the east of the county, where it was generally called the ' Moor buzzard ' ; nested every year in a tuft of stunted willows in the middle of Redmoor Marsh till about 1855, and up till 1863 stray birds were seen in that neighbourhood almost every year. Has been obtained several times in the Penzance district, once at Swanpool, Falmouth, and thrice at Scilly. 1 24. Hen Harrier. Circus cyaneus (Linn.) . A casual visitor of not infrequent occurrence ; has been known to breed on Goonhilly Downs (F. V. Hill) and has nested in the county for the last three years ; occasionally met with on the moors of the middle and west, but rarely of the east. Until about 1875 female hen harriers were to be seen at Scilly almost every year, though only one male had been shot. During the last twenty-five years one example only has been obtained, namely, in May, 1888. 125. Montagu's Harrier. Circus cineraceus (Montagu). Has been a scarce summer migrant to the west of the county for at least forty years, but in the early fifties was a rare casual ; still breeds in the Lizard district, where a bird was unfortunately killed in 1902, and another, an adult female, by mischance in April, 1903 ; stray birds occasionally recorded be- tween Penzance and Truro, and at long intervals from the east and north. First recorded from Scilly in April, 1852, when three were shot, but apparently not seen again till April, 1868. It is still an occa- sional visitor, chiefly in the spring, and was seen on St. Martin's, 9 April, 1903. 1 Op. cit. pt. ii, p. 69, App.
- Thompson, Proc. 2ml. Sac. (1835), 77.
337 43
