58 ) 



NOTES ON A LONG-EARED OWL NESTLNG ON 

 THE GROUND LN NORFOLK. 



BY 



J. H. GURNEY, F.Z.S., and E. L. TURNER, Hon. Mem. B.O.U. 



On April 6th, 1915, a head-keeper m the Norfolk Broad 

 district, who is a practical and particularly careful 

 observer, chanced to find the nest of a Long-eared Owl 

 {Asio o. otus). The nest was on the ground, and not 

 raised in any way, which is very unusual. On the 15th 

 he showed the nest to Dr. S. H. Long (Sec. Nor. Nat. Soc.) 

 and me, when we jotted down a few memoranda which 

 may be worth preserving. A situation on the ground 

 would hardly be chosen by a Long-eared Owl, which is 

 essentially an Owl of the fir- woods, in any but a treeless 

 district, yet nests on the ground have been recorded in 

 Norfolk before {see Zoologist, 1900, p. 103, and Bull. 

 B.O.C., XIIL, p. 57). 



In the latter case, Sir Digby Pigott exhibited a photo- 

 graph of a nest at Sheringham, a district where there is 

 no lack of trees. In Cambridgeshire also a nest was 

 found on the ground, and photographs taken of it at 

 Wicken by Mr. C. R. Gumey in 1906, but this was in a 

 marsh. 



The Long-eared Owl, although less persecuted in 

 Norfolk than it used to be, does not increase ; indeed 

 several extents of country might be named \\'hich are 

 believed not to harbour more than a pair or two. 



At Keswick, for instance, I do not remember to have 

 seen it on more than one occasion (July 15th). On 

 the other hand, in the extensive woods near the coast 

 it is commoner and less exclusive than the Tawny Owl. 

 a limited extent of " territory " serving for more than 

 one pair. There are certain localities where it yearly 

 builds, and generally in a fir-tree — a spruce-tir for 

 choice. Here it appropriates some squirrels " drey," 



