200 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



Some parts of this above description perhaps may be held 

 as applying better to the Long-eared Owl, but the passage regarding 

 the " flap-like ears down the side of the face " seems to point to it 

 having been a specimen of the Barn Owl. 



LONG-EARED OWL (Sfrix of its), p. 76. This is an addition to the 

 Fauna of the Outer Hebrides. Colonel Irby records it from North 

 Uist in January 1897 : and it is even stated to have nested. The 

 keeper assured him that both the Short-eared and the Long-eared 

 Owls nested there. The fact of there being no trees might seem 

 to militate against this being likely ; but then we know that the 

 Kestrel and the Hooded Crow both nest on the ground in North 

 Uist, and that the Long-eared Owl has been known to do so in 

 Sutherlandshire, and that it had bred for some years at Dunvegan 

 in Skye. Our present information, however, is insufficient to allow 

 us to admit it as a nesting species. 



I have also heard that this Owl has been seen near Stornoway, 

 and Mr. D. Mackenzie says : "I have not known of the Long- 

 eared Owl breeding in Lewis, but both Long- and Short-eared Owls 

 come in the winter, and go off again with the Woodcock. I would 

 think these (Long-eared Owls !) shot south of the Sound of Harris 

 would have been in winter and early spring." 



I hear also of one having been shot in Barra in October 1899, 

 and of another having been seen in October 1900 (fide William L. 

 MacGillivray). 



SHORT-EARED OWL (Asio accipitrinus), p. 76. In our " Fauna of 

 the Outer Hebrides " we make no mention of this species being found 

 farther south than South Uist, but Dr. M'Rury finds that it breeds 

 in Barra. 



SNOWY OWL (Surnia nyctea), p. 77. It may be remembered 

 that a specimen of this fine species was shot in Mingulay the only 

 one remembered on the island (" Fauna of the Outer Hebrides/' p. 7 7, 

 and Appendix D, p. 253). This was in January 1887 ; and in the 

 same year, and season, one was seen by Dr. M'Rury in Barra 

 most probably the same bird ("Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist." 1901, 



P- IJ 5)- 



Mr. D. Mackenzie informs me that Snowy Owls are still 



occasionally seen to the north of Stornoway, from time to time, 

 and Mr. Radclyffe Waters tells us that one was shot by one of 

 his party on August 25, 1890; and further, that "In 1893, 

 several appeared during the nesting season and were very 

 destructive, taking the hen grouse at the waterside when they 

 left their nests for their evening drink. The keeper killed several 

 certainly four or five and I think Mr. Mackenzie has two 

 of them stuffed." I saw these two birds in Mr. D. Mackenzie's 

 possession in April 1902. 



