298 TAWNY OWL. 



unknown in Siberia. Throughout temperate Europe the Tawny 

 Owl is found in suitable localities, but in the south it is very local, 

 being almost confined to the higher wooded districts in the Spanish 

 Peninsula and Italy, while it has not yet been obtained in Corsica 

 or Sardinia. In North Africa and Asia Minor it is known to breed 

 in small numbers, and Canon Tristram met with it among the 

 cedars of Lebanon. At least six other members of the genus 

 occupy the area between Turkestan and China. 



The Tawny Owl breeds early, sometimes having eggs at the end 

 of February and often by the middle of March in England, though 

 later in the north of Scotland. A hollow in the trunk of some 

 decayed tree, especially when covered with ivy, is a favourite site ; but 

 old nests of Rooks (even in frequented rookeries), Crows, Magpies 

 and other birds are often occupied, and ruins, barns, out-buildings, 

 disused chimneys &c. are occasionally resorted to ; while instances 

 of eggs being laid in rabbit-burrows, on ledges of root-trellised crags, 

 or on the bare ground under shelter of fir-branches, are common. 

 The 3-4 and even 6 white eggs are rather smooth in surface and 

 nearly round in shape : measurements i'8 by i*5 in. The clicking 

 note of the young resembles the word kee-'wick ; the old birds may 

 be heard to utter their loud hoo-hoo, whoo-it, or tit-zvhit, to-who 

 as it is rendered by Shakespeare, chiefly in the evening, but also 

 shortly before dawn. During the day this species remains con- 

 cealed, and appears to dislike the sunlight more than any other 

 British Owl ; while it depends largely upon its sense of hearing. 

 Some bold individuals resent an approach to their nest, and cases 

 are known of distinct aggressiveness. The food consists chiefly 

 of voles, rats, mice, shrews, squirrels, moles, and occasionally of 

 small birds, insects, and surface-swimming fishes. 



The adult male has the upper parts of varying shades of ash-grey 

 mottled with brown, with large white spots on the outer webs of the 

 wing-coverts ; tail barred with brown and tipped with white ; under 

 parts buffish-white, mottled with pale and streaked with dark brown ; 

 facial disk greyish, with a dark brown border ; operculum large ; legs 

 feathered to the claws. Length about 15 in.; wing 10 in. The 

 female is much larger, and often more rufous in plumage. This 

 species is, however, subject to dichromatism, and there are two 

 distinct phases— a red and a grey— the colour of which is indepen- 

 dent of sex ; the ruddy form being, perhaps, the more common in 

 this country. The nestlings are covered with greyish down ; after- 

 wards the plumage is generally more rufous than in the adults. 



