OWLS 29 



Gurney informs me that *' some always breed in 

 young fir plantations in Norfolk, but by far the 

 greater number occur as regular autumnal migrants." 



A specimen was shot near Loch Maddy, in North 

 Uist, by Col. W. C. Verner in January 1897, the 

 first recorded for the Outer Hebrides. It has been 

 stated that both the Long -eared and Short -eared 

 Owls breed in North Uist, but the statement re- 

 quires confirmation. (See Irby, Ann. Scot. Nat. 

 Hist, January 1898.) 



For an interesting note on the habits of this 

 species, see Brockholes, Zool., 1859, p. 6752 ; and 

 for a curious story of a Long- eared Owl coming 

 down to feed amongst trained falcons, see Trans. 

 Norf. Nat. Soc, iii. p. 92. 



SHORT-EARED OWL. Asio brachyotus (Forster). PL 4, 

 fig. 2. Length, 14 in. ; wing, 11-75 in. ; tarsus, 1-75 in. 



This bird is the Strix accipitrina of Pallas, 

 "Reise Russ. Reichs.," i. p. 455 (1771), and the 

 Strix hrachyotus of Forster, Phil. Trans., Ixii. p. 384 

 (1772) ; the genus Asio of Brisson is that now gene- 

 rally adopted for the reception of the eared owls. 



The Short-eared Owl nests regularly in Scotland 

 and the north of England, and is resident all the 

 year in the west of Scotland north of Ayrshire. 

 Breeds occasionally in Norfolk (Stevenson) and in 

 Yorkshire (Clarke, "Yorkshire Vertebrates," p. 41), 

 in Sufi'olk [Zool, 1882, p. 232), Cambridgeshire 

 (Zool, 1881, p. 336), Huntingdon (F. Bond), Essex 

 {Zool, 1889, p. 453), and Devonshire {Zool, 1893, 



