g8 alt.en's naturalist's t.ibrary 



eared Owl by the shortness of the ear-tufts and by the absence 

 of minute cross-vermiculations, which are so plentiful in the 

 Long-eared Owls, the feathers being broadly striped wnth brown 

 both above and below. 



Range in Great Britain! — The Short-eared Owl breeds in such 

 haunts as are suitable to it in the north of England and in 

 Scotland, as w^ell as in the Orkneys and Shetlands. It also 

 nests sparingly in the eastern counties of England. In Ireland 

 it occurs as an autumn and winter visitant, but is not included 

 vis a breeding species in the latest list of Mr. R. J. Ussher. 

 Over the greater part of England it is chiefly met with in 

 autumn and winter, when a considerable migration of the 

 species takes place. 



Range outside the British Islands. — Unlike the Long eared Owl, 

 the present species has not been recorded from Iceland, though 

 it occasionally wanders to the Faeroe Islands. It nests through- 

 out Northern Europe, and even in South Russia and the Cau- 

 casus, while it probably breeds throughout Northern Asia, as 

 it has been found to do so in Eastern Siberia and Kamtchatka. 

 Throughout the central and southern countries of Europe it is 

 known as a migratory species, and it also passes through China 

 on migration, to winter in Southern China, Burma, and the 

 Indian Peninsula. 



In the New World the Short-eared Owl is found from the 

 Arctic Regions to the very extreme of South America. Slightly 

 modified forms are met with — Asia gala/^ageiisis, in the Gala- 

 pagos Islands, and in the Sandwich Islands, Asio sandivicheti- 

 sis. A dark species, Asio c.ipensis, is met with in South Africa, 

 and occurs also in jNIarocco and Southern Spain, and is said to 

 interbreed with our own Short-eared Owl. With the exception 

 of Australia and the Malayan Peninsula and islands, our bird 

 may be said to have an almost cosmopolitan range, though it 

 is doubtful whether it ever extends in winter below North- 

 eastern Africa, the sole evidence of its having been met with 

 in South Africa resting on a specimen sent alive to the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens many years ago, and said to have come from 

 Natal. 



Habits. — In winter time and during the shooting-season, the 



