Alice Hibbert-Ware

Alice Hibbert-Ware (1869–1944) was a New Zealand-born naturalist and educator, who is particularly notable for her research and report on the Little Owl and described as one of the "unsung heroines of modern ecology." From age 13, Hibbert-Ware attended Cheltenham Ladies' College where she took an interest in science.

In 1931, after Hibbert-Ware's sister-in-law died, she moved to Girton, Cambridgeshire to care for her brother, a vicar. She first published her observations of the Little Owl in 1918. Her research involved the analysis of 2460 pellets, 76 nests and larders and 28 gizzards. She wrote in her report that only two game chicks and seven poultry chicks were taken during the 16 months studied and that the Little Owl fed largely on insects year round and some small rodents. Ministry of Agriculture accepted her report and, via the Home Office, sent sending a memorandum to every local authority stating that "the Little Owl is to be ranked with other Owls as a very useful bird."

Publications

Hibbert-Ware, A. (1922). Notes on the Gizzard Contents of Birds Collected by Mr. Miller Christy. The Essex Naturalist, 20: 142–150. Hibbert-Ware, A. (1934). The Food of the Little Owl. Cambridge Bird Club Report, 1934: 23–25. Hibbert-Ware, A. (1936). Report of an Investigation of the Food of Captive Little Owls. British Birds, 29: 302–305. Hibbert-Ware, A. (1938). Birds of Girton College Grounds. Girton Review, 107: 3- 9. Hibbert-Ware, A. (1938). Report of the Little Owl Food Inquiry 1936–37. British Birds, 31: 162–187, 205–229, 249–264. Hibbert-Ware, A (1940). An investigation of the pellets of the Common Heron (Ardea cinerea cinerea). Ibis, 82: 433–450. Hibbert-Ware, A., & Ruttledge, R.F. (1944). A study of the inland food habits of the Common Curlew. British Birds, 38: 22–27.