1 84 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Family STRIGID/E. ■ Genus Strix. 



Sub-family BUBONIN.E. 



WOOD OWL. 



Strix aluco, Gerini. 

 Double Brooded. Laying season, March to July or August. 



British breeding area : The Wood Owl, otherwise 

 known as the Brown or Tawny Owl, is a fairly well 

 distributed species over England and Wales, although 

 everywhere decreasing in numbers, thanks to the game- 

 keeper. In Scotland it can only be said to be at all 

 frequent in the southern districts, becoming rare and 

 local in the more treeless areas of the north, although it 

 ranges as far north as Caithness and as far west as 

 Skye and some other of the Inner Hebrides. This Owl 

 appears to be entirely absent from Ireland. 



Breeding habits : The Wood Owl is a resident 

 species, and confined for the most part to extensive 

 woodlands, either of pines, firs, or deciduous trees. It 

 is particularly attached to old forest districts and parks 

 where hollow and decayed timber is abundant. More 

 rarely it frequents caves, ruins, barns, and farm-buildings. 

 I am of opinion that this Owl pairs for life, and in many 

 cases the same nesting-place is used year by year. It 

 is neither gregarious nor social in its habits, each pair 

 keeping entirely to themselves. The young are usually 

 reared in the hole which forms the birds' retreat during 

 the day, but not always, as instances arc not rare in 

 which the breeding-place is only used for that purpose. 

 The nest-hole is generally in a hollow tree of some kind, 

 but occasionally a hole in a building or a rift in a cliff 

 is selected. Deserted nests of Hawks, Magpies, and 

 Carrion Crows, and old squirrels' dreys are also used at 



