50 STEIGID^. 



frequents neither mountains nor forests, but prefers the 

 plains, concealing itself, on the Continent, in heaths and 

 vineyards, and in the British Isles, in stuhble-fields or 

 among turnips. 



In some seasons they are so abundant in France, that 

 the sportsman has no diflficulty in killing a dozen in a day. 

 As many as twenty-eight were once seen in a single turnip- 

 field in England ; from whence it has been inferred that 

 in autumn the Short-eared Owls are gregarious, and esta- 

 blish themselves for a time in any place they faU in with, 

 where field-mice or other small quadrupeds are abun- 

 dant. In England this bird is not uncommonly started 

 by sportsmen when in pursuit of game. It then flies with 

 a quick zig-zag motion for about a hundred yards, and 

 alights on the ground, never on a tree. By some it is 

 called the Woodcock-Owl, from its arriving and departing 

 at about the same times with that bird ; it is not, however, 

 invariably a bird of passage, since many instances are on 

 record of its breeding in this country, making a rude nest 

 in a thick bush, either on the ground, or close to it, and 

 feeding its young on mice, small birds, and even the larger 

 game, as Moor-fowl, a bird more than double its own 

 weight. The Short-eared Owl affords a beautiful illus- 

 tration of a fact not generally known, that the nocturnal 

 birds of prey have the right and left ear differently formed, 

 one ear being so made as to hear sounds from above, and 

 the other from below. The opening into the channel for 

 conveying sound is in the right ear, placed beneath the 

 transverse fold, and directed upivards, wliile in the left 

 ear the same opening is placed above the channel for 

 conveying sound, and is directed downwards. 



In the severe weather of January, 1861, I had the 

 gratification of seeing three or four of these Owls among 

 the sand-hills of the coast of Norfolk, near Holkham. I 

 imagined them to be in pursuit of the Eedwings and 

 other small birds which had been driven by the intense 



