288 THE LONG-EAEED OWL. 



in the day-time, flies noiselessly away to another in the 

 neighbourhood. In the dusk of the evening it leaves its 

 place of concealment, to search for mice, rats, and small 

 birds, upon which it chiefly preys. 



Mr. Abel Chapman, who writes to me that he has 

 attended to the habits of this Owl for many years, says : — 

 " The only cry I ever heard it utter (except for a short period 

 in summer), was a low cat-like whistle, almost a monotone, 

 but occasionally varied with something very like the mee- 

 owing of a cat. This was just before it left the woods for 

 its nightly hunt at dusk. The other note I have referred to 

 was heard only in summer, about June, when the young 

 were newly fledged, and was a sort of petulant bark, some- 

 what like that of a petted lap-dog. It was not very loud, 

 and not to be compared with the hooting of the Tawny 

 Owl. I have several times seen the Long- eared Owl utter- 

 ing this note, always when the bird was perched near the 

 side of a wood, and I have thought it was uttered by way 

 of encouragement or instruction to the young Owls." ^ 



It generally selects the old nest of a Magpie,^ Carrion 

 Crow, AVood Pigeon, or Squirrel, in which to deposit its 

 ecfss, which are four or five in number, smooth and white, 

 of the size of those of a tame Pigeon, but more oval in 

 shape. The eggs are usually laid in the end of March, 

 or in April. 



1 Mr. Abel Chapman, in letter, dated Roker, 29th March 1886. 



2 My friend, Mr. A. H. Evans, informs me that, in April 1876, he found the 

 young of a Long-eared Owl in an old Magpie's nest in a small plantation by the 

 side of the public road near Sunwick. They were five in number, and newly 

 hatched. Some years ago it nested on a larch near the Lover's Tryste in the 

 Crow Dean Wood at Paxton, a Wood Pigeon having her nest on the tree at the 

 same time. 



