410 ULULA OTUS. 



When perched at night it sometimes emitted a clicking 

 noise, like that of a spring, with its bill ; but when pro- 

 voked, it neither hissed nor snapped, but merely ut- 

 tered a shrill plaintive tremulous cry, or succession of 

 short notes, erecting its tufts at the same time. 



Propagation. — It nestles in trees, choosing the nest 

 of a rook or magpie, which it lines with wool, or other 

 soft materials. The eggs are from three t(f five, ellipti- 

 cal, pure white, an inch and nine-twelfths in length, an 

 inch and four-twelfths across. It lays in April, and the 

 young take about six weeks before they are able to fly. 



Young fledged. — The young are at first covered 

 with down of a light yellowish- grey colour, barred with 

 faint brown. There are two conspicuous tufts on the 

 top of the head. The first feathers are singularly soft 

 and downy. When fully fledged, they are coloured 

 like the old birds, but are much darker. The iris is 

 orange ; the bill brownish-grey, horn-coloured at the 

 tip ; the claws greyish-brown ; the wings and tail are 

 more decidedly barred, and the buff on the wings is of 

 a richer tint. 



Progress towards maturity After the first 



moult, the colours are as in the old bird, only the lower 

 parts are more barred, arid their longitudinal markings 

 broader and darker. In old individuals, the lower parts 

 are pure buff\, without undulating bars, their longitudi- 

 nal spots narrow, and those on the lower tail-coverts 

 nearly obliterated. 



Of a male individual after the first moult the dimen- 



