205 TAWNY OWL. 



Siberia is as yet unknown. Throughout temperate Europe the 

 Tawny Owl is found in suitable localities, but in the south it is 

 very local, being almost confined to the higher wooded districts in 

 the Spanish Peninsula, and to the northern portion of Italy, while it 

 has not yet been obtained in Corsica or Sardinia. In North Africa, 

 however, it is known to breed in small numbers, as also in Asia Minor, 

 and Canon Tristram met with it among the cedars of Lebanon. East- 

 ward it can be traced through Turkestan to Tibet ; but a form 

 resident in the Himalayas, with bolder and darker mottlings, has 

 been separated specifically as S. 7iivicolum, while opinions differ 

 respecting birds from China. 



The Tawny Owl breeds early in the year, often having eggs by the 

 middle of March in the south of England, though rather later in the 

 north of Scotland. A hollow in the trunk of some decayed tree, 

 especially when covered with ivy, is a favourite site; but old nests of 

 Rcoks, Crows, Magpies and other birds are often occupied, and 

 ruins, barns and out-buildings, disused chimneys &c. are occasion- 

 ally resorted to; while instances of eggs being laid in rabbit-burrows, 

 on ledges of root-trellised crags, or on the bare ground under shelter 

 of fir-branches, are by no means uncommon. As usual, the eggs 

 are white, rather smooth in surface and nearly round in shape : 

 average measurements I'S by i'5 in. The clicking note of the 

 young resembles the word kee-iuick:, the old birds may be heard 

 to utter their loud hoo-hoo, or the tu--a>/iii, to-ivJw as rendered by 

 Shakespeare, chiefly in the evening and shortly before dawn. 

 During the day this Owl remains concealed, and it appears to 

 dislike the sunlight more than any other British member of the 

 family. Some bold individuals resent an approach to their nest, 

 and cases are even known of distinct aggressiveness. The food 

 consists of voles, rats, mice, shrews, squirrels, moles, small birds, 

 insects, and surface-swimming fish. 



The adult male has the upper parts of varying shades of ash-grey 

 mottled with brown, with large white spots on the outer webs of the 

 wing-coverts ; tail barred with brown and tipped with white ; under 

 parts buffish-white, mottled with pale and streaked with dark brown ; 

 facial disk greyish, with a dark brown border ; operculum large ; legs 

 feathered to the claw^s. Length about i6 in.; wing ii in. The 

 female is larger, and often more rufous in plumage, but there are two 

 phases — a red and a grey — of this species, the colour of which is 

 independent of sex, the ruddy form being the more common in this 

 country. The nestlings are covered with greyish down ; afterwards 

 the plumage is generally more rufous than in the adults. 



