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NOTES

Abridged from the _Magazine of Natural History_.


[Illustration: (The Fern Owl, showing the greater length of the middle
claw, and its provision for the peculiar posture of the bird.)]


_Habits of the Fern Owl, by Rusticus_.--Beyond Godalming, on the Liphook
road, is a great tract of barren heathy land: it stretches wide in every
direction, and includes immense peat-bogs, and several large ponds. One
particular district, called the Pudmores, is the favourite resort of
the fern owl. In the daytime, while walking across the moor, you will
every now and then put up one of these singular birds; their flight is
perfectly without noise, and seldom far at a time: but of an evening it
is far different; about twenty minutes after sunset, the whole moor is
ringing with their cry, and you see them wheeling round you in all
directions. They look like spectres; and, often coming close over you,
assume an unnatural appearance of size against a clear evening sky. I
believe its very peculiar note is uttered sitting, and never on the
wing. I have seen it on a stack of turf with its throat nearly touching
the turf, and its tail elevated, and have heard it in this situation
utter its call, which resembles the birr of the mole-cricket, an insect
very abundant in this neighbourhood. I have almost been induced to think
this noise serves as a decoy to the male mole-cricket, this being