18 ON THE REPORTED BREEDING OF
the plantation. I thought he might have mistaken Long-eared owls
for them, but when he described their size and colour, &c., I came
to the conclusion that they were either the Scops or Little owl. I
asked him not to shoot them, as they would probably return another
season to breed. In 1886 [? 1887], he told me he had again seen
the owls, but could not find the nest, although he had seen one of
the young ones. . . . Should I meet with him, I will question him
about the matter. ... I have no reason to believe that Ward was
telling me an untruth." And on October 25th, Mr. Nunn wrote:
"I think I am at last able to give you some definite information as
to the Scops owl breeding in the Heydon Plantation. Ward called
on me yesterday afternoon, and after asking him several questions I
showed him the engravings of owls in Yarrell's work, and he pointed
to the Scops owl as the bird he had seen. He went on to say that
he saw two of the young ones, and picked one up and placed it upon
the bough of a tree. He moreover said that he took a man by the
name of Thomas Henry Wrycroft, who is now living in Heydon, to
look at them. Ward described the old birds as being about six to
eight inches high, I asked him if he thought they were killed by
anyone. His reply was 'No one disturbed them.' This looks pretty
genuine, and, as I said before, I do not believe Ward in any way
wished to tell me a lie."
I next wrote to the Mr. Wrycroft mentioned above, who at once
replied at follows :—
" I cannot answer all the questions in your letter, as I took very
little notice of the birds. We saw them in the spring of 1887. [There
is a difference of a year between the two statements.] There were
two on the ground. Mr. Ward picked one up—could not fly. We
did not see the nest—couldn't find it. The old birds were small
[and] dark brown. The young ones seemed to have a hood of down.
Mr. Ward says they first made their appearance in 1886. He also
says that he tried to find the nest on several occasions, but could not.
He says he has never seen such an owl before.''
It is interesting to note that a pair of Scops owls were taken many
years ago near the Aviary, at Audley End, as mentioned by Yarrell
(1st ed., vol. i., p. 114, and "Magazine of Nat. Hist.," series ii.,
vol. iii., p. 100; see also Harting's "Handbook," p. 93). They were
taken about the year 1821, by Mr. Travis, gamekeeper, father of
Mr. Travis, the well-known taxidermist of Saffron Walden, who pre-
served Mr. Emson's specimen shot in June last. One of them was
only slightly wounded, and was kept alive for some time. For these
additional particulars (which have not, I believe, before been pub-
lished), I am indebted to an old memorandum kindly lent to me by
Mr. Joseph Clarke, F.S.A. It is also worth noting that, in Harting's
"Handbook of British Birds," pairs of these birds are noted as