292 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



upper parts much greyer. Length, 14 ins. Wing, 11*25 ins. 

 Tarsus, 2*4 ins. 



Family STRIGID^. 

 Long-eared Owl. Asio otus (Linn.). 



The range of the Long-eared Owl (Plate 120) is practically 

 Palasarctic, and it is more migratory than many other owls. 

 In the British Isles it has a wide distribution as a resident, and 

 occurs in the north, at any rate, as a passage migrant, whilst 

 numbers reach the east coast as winter visitors in autumn. 

 There seems also to be some internal movement southward in 

 autumn, when flocks containing as many as a score of birds 

 have been observed. 



Fir-w^oods are the favourite haunts of this species, but it also 

 frequents the slopes of hills and open country where firs are in 

 small clumps, and woods where conifers are absent. During 

 the day it remains in its roost, sometimes screened by ivy, but 

 often sitting bolt upright on a branch, pressing its apparently 

 attenuated body close to the trunk ; in this position it is 

 difficult to detect, but when it is disturbed or the small birds 

 discover the perch, it is mobbed without mercy. It is said that 

 in the day the elongated feathers on the head, known as the 

 horns or "ear-tufts," a misleading name, are laid back, but 

 whenever I have seen the bird the tufts have been erect and 

 often with their tips close together. At dusk it flies with 

 wavering flight but usually silently ; indeed it is a quieter bird 

 than most owls, and the accounts of its notes vary greatly. The 

 hoot is a long drawn-out and quavering 00-00-00-00, quite 

 distinct from that of the Tawny Owl ; it has a sharp quacking 

 flight call, a yelping bark, and an anger call, syllabled by Mr. 

 Oldham as woof, woof, 00-ack, 00-ack. The hunger call of the 

 young resembles the creaking of an unoiled hinge. The male, 

 when courting and also when angry, frequently " claps " his 



