92. Tawny Owl. Syrnium aluco (Linn.).
Generally called the brown owl or wood owl. Common wherever there are large and old trees with hollows to breed in, but absent, at least during the breeding season, from places where such trees are wanting. An extremely grey variety, ' with the white markings conspicuous and no trace of rufous tawny,' was shot at Great Horwood near Winslowin July 1884 (Aplin, Zoologist, 1884, p. 471). It is well known that this owl occurs in a brown and a greyish phase, but the brown and often very rufous phase is apparently the prevailing one in England.
93. Little Owl. Athene noctua (Scopoli).
The captures of this owl in Buckingham- shire being all of recent date (1896, Fingest; 1894, Turville ; 1902, Bletchley), there can be no doubt that all are due to the many in- troduced specimens. Every year cages full are sent over from Holland, and in Northamp- tonshire (Lord Lilford) and Tring (Mr. Roth- schild) many have been liberated and bred, though they are decreasing in numbers.
94. Scops Eared-Owl. Scops giu (Scopoli).
(The proper name is Pisorhina scops.) ' A bird of this species was shot by a far- mer on the borders of Bucks, near Brill, in the spring of 1838, and taken to Mr. Forest, from whom we shortly after received infor- mation of its occurrence ' (A. H. Matthews, Zoologist, 1849, p. 2596.)
95. Marsh Harrier. Circus æruginosus (Linn.).
Though doubtless in former times fairly numerous in marshy districts, we have no de- tailed records of this bird's breeding in the county, nor notes of very recent occurrences. In 1868 Clark Kennedy wrote (Birds of Berks and Bucks, p. 4) : ' Resident throughout the year but nowhere numerous. It is dis- tributed sparingly in both counties, and is doubtless often confounded with the hen har- rier. A few are still to be seen at various seasons in the neighbourhood of Chesham ; and it remains all the year in some favoured localities, which are now, alas ! " few and far between " in the two counties. The Rev. Bryan Burgess of Latimer, near Chesham, wrote me word of an immature marsh harrier which was killed some years ago near Ris- borough.'
Mr. Cocks tells us that Mr. R. Lunnon winged a male near Spade Oak, Little Mar- low, in the heavy snow on January 19, 1881, and gave it alive to Mr. Cocks on December 21, 1881.
96. Hen-Harrier. Circus cyaneus (Linn.). Like most birds of prey the hen-harrier is also a bird of the past in most places where it used to breed. According to Mr. Clark Kennedy a male was shot at Eton College in 1857, an d it ' has occurred at Chesham and near Cookham.' Some fifteen years ago or so one was shot near the Tring reservoirs, close to the borders of Herts.
97. Montagu's Harrier. Circus cineraceus (Montagu).
(The correct name in our opinion is Circus pygargus, Linnæus, 1758 and 1766.)
According to Mr. Cocks (Field, 1873) a specimen was killed near Hurley in 1870. A fine adult male was trapped near Wigginton, Tring, close to the Bucks border. Clark Kennedy wrote (p. 166) : ' The Rev. Harpur Crewe informed me that a specimen of this bird was killed some years since by Mr. A. H. Jenney in the parish of Drayton Beauchamp in Buckinghamshire. It is now in the pos- session of Sir J. H. Crewe. Mr. R. B. Sharpe sent me word that a harrier of this species was procured by a gentleman of his acquaint- ance near Eton in the summer of 1867, and is now in his collection.'
98. Buzzard. Buteo vulgaris, Leach.
(We would call this bird B'uteo buteo (Linn.), being the Falca buteo, Linn.)
In the Field, March 1875, p. 72, Mr. Thomas Marshall writes : ' A fine specimen of the common buzzard was trapped in the neighbourhood of High Wycombe early in March 1875. Another was killed last year at Little Marlow. I am informed that the latter had been observed and stalked for a long time previously.'
99. Rough-legged Buzzard. Buteo lagopus (Gmelin). (Should, in our opinion, be called Archibuteo lagopus. It is inconsistent to suppress the genus Archibuteo if so many other genera are recognized.)
A specimen was trapped near Wycombe on December 6, 1880 (T. Marshall, Fiel4, ii. 1880, p. 905). In the late autumn of 1891 three were trapped (one of them alive) near Halton, and of these two are now in the museum at Tring. These are the same re- corded by Mr. Grossman in the History of Herts, p. 206, in 1893 as having been 'shot at Tring.' They were caught near Halton, near Tring in Buckinghamshire, and the year was certainly not 1893, but 1891 or possibly 1890. Clark Kennedy (p. 165) mentions a pair which were shot in Bledlow
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