EAGLE-OWL. 413 



golden buff of the breast is ornamented with broad dark brown streaks ; 

 and the dull white ground of the flank-feathers shows a full tinge of 

 buff, upon which are a number of fine transverse dusky lines extending 

 outwards from dark brown shaft-streaks. Except for her superior size, the 

 hen is distinguishable from her mate in appearance ; and young birds are 

 coloured like their parents. Nestlings are clothed in dirty white down. 



The chief ground for giving this magnificent bird a definite place 

 in the British list is a report to the effect that it at one time inhabited 

 Orkney, and perhaps bred there. Whether this be true or not, there 

 is no doubt that wild specimens have occasionally been taken both in 

 Orkney and Shetland, and probably also in the north of Scotland. As 

 to the records of the occurrence of the species in England there can 

 be little hesitation in regarding many at least of these as based on 

 specimens escaped from captivity, and there would accordingly be 

 little use in giving a detailed list. It may be mentioned, however, 

 that one eminent ornithologist has expressed the opinion that some 

 of the examples taken in England were Vv^ld birds. There is no 

 authenticated record of the occurrence of the species in Ireland. 



The range of the eagle-owl includes the greater part of Europe, 

 Xorth Africa, and northern and Central Asia, the so-called Bubo 

 tiircojiiaiius not being more than a local race. The breeding-range 

 includes Lapland, Gibraltar, and Greece ; eggs from all these three 

 localities being included in the British Museum collection. Its large 

 size and fierce disposition render the eagle-owl by far the most 

 formidable of the nocturnal birds-of-prey ; and its prey comprises 

 not only game-birds, hares, and rabbits, but even, it is said, fawns, 

 while crows frequently afford a meal to its almost insatiable appetite ; 

 and, for lack of larger victims, rats and mice are not disdained. It is 

 an early breeder, laying its clutch of two or three eggs in the latter 

 part of March or the beginning of April, sometimes selecting for their 

 reception the deserted nest of some other bird or a hollow tree-trunk, 

 but on other occasions depositing them on a ledge of rock, or even on 

 the bare ground. A loud, twice-repeated hoot is the distinctive cry of 

 the eagle-owls. They thrive well in captivity, and some years ago quite 

 a number were kept by a gentleman in Norfolk. That they will live 

 to a great age is testified by the fact that there died in 1904 a female 

 which had been kept seventy-five years in captivity in an aviary in 

 England. Brought from Norway in 1829, this bird within the last 

 thirty years of its life reared no less than ninety young. There appear 

 to be few recorded instances where the age to which the species will 

 attain has been so definitelv ascertained as in this case. 



