NO 
The Eagle Owl 
But although so parochial in its habits by day, by night it goes 
further afield, as is amply proved by the remains of some of the 
birds commonly found in its larder, whose habitat is far removed 
from the districts where Eagle Owls nest. 
Despite its retiring disposition and marked predilection thus 
to limit its sphere of action by day to certain well-defined localities, 
its appearance is familiar to many owing to the ease with which 
it is kept in confinement. In fact there are few large collections 
of living birds where it may not be seen, whilst its great size and 
striking appearance always attract attention to it, whether alive in 
an aviary or stuffed on the shelves of a museum. 
Its nocturnal habit—though it is far from being entirely a night 
bird in the wilder regions it inhabits—causes its movements to 
be but seldom seen. Thus, I know of a pair which have nested 
on the Rock of Gibraltar for over thirty years and although | have 
listened to their strange calls by night many times, I have only 
once seen one of the birds on the wing by day during that period. 
To those unversed in the ways of birds, and more especially 
those who do not know the extraordinary persistency with which 
certain species frequent the same localities year after year, it may 
come as a surprise to learn that in 1776 just one hundred years 
before I first met with the Eagle Owls at Gibraltar, the Rev. John 
White wrote to his brother, the famous Gilbert White of Selborne, 
to report their presence there. 
In the quest of all wild birds’ nests, although at times chance 
may favour the seeker, it not uncommonly happens that years pass 
before the most diligent search for a nest is rewarded by success. 
It was my case with the Eagle Owl. 
So far back as May 1875, when wandering with Fergusson up the 
o bird flew out 
watercourse of a gorge in a Spanish sierra, a big 
of the heather-grown crags about 300 ft. above us and _ passing 
overhead disappeared round the shoulder of the opposite hill. My 
