300 EAGLE-OWL. 



was afterwards wrongly identified (Zool. 1881, pp. 262, 308) as the 

 American B. virgtnianits, and subsequently proved to be B. viacu- 

 losiis (Zool. 1882, p. 460), a native of South Africa, like Dr. Birkett's 

 'Gold-vented Thrush,' also said to have been shot in co. Water- 

 ford, in winter ! 



The Eagle-Owl inhabits the forest-covered, rugged and mountainous 

 districts of Europe, from Scandinavia, Lapland and Northern Russia 

 to the Alediterranean ; as well as Africa north of the Atlas Moun- 

 tains. Specimens from beyond the Volga are pale in colour, while 

 east of the Ural Mountains and across Siberia a still paler form, 

 B. sibiricus, is found ; though birds from China and the south of 

 Japan are identical with those from Europe. In Central Asia the 

 representative variety is the rather smaller B. turcomaniis, which 

 appears to" connect the European race with the shorter-eared and 

 fairly distinct species, B. ascalapJms, inhabiting Egypt and North- 

 eastern Africa. America is occupied by B. virginianus and its sub- 

 divisions. 



In the forest regions the Eagle-Owl deposits its eggs in some wide 

 fork or other convenient place in a large tree, sometimes making 

 use of an old nest of another bird ; but in the mountains it lays 

 them on slightly overhung ledges, or on crags, among the roots of 

 trees ; it is rather partial to the sides of narrow gorges, and is not 

 averse to the proximity of a cottage. Incubation often commences 

 early in April ; the eggs being '2 and never more than 3 in 

 number, nearly round in shape, and creamy-white in colour : average 

 measurements 2*3 by i"9 in. No nest is originally made, but the 

 young are often found upon an accumulation of castings and the 

 fur of rats, rabbits, hares and other mammals ; which, with birds, 

 form the food of this predatory species. In Spain and the Pyrenees 

 the peasants make a practice of robbing its nest of the game sup- 

 plied daily to the young by the parent birds and substituting any 

 available offal ; for which reason the position is seldom revealed 

 until the young are nearly ready to fly. The Eagle-Owl seeks its 

 prey by day as well as by night. Its crj', chiefly uttered early in 

 the spring, is a loud hoot. In confinement this species breeds 

 freely and has been known to live to a great age. 



The general colour of the upper parts is dark brown or black, 

 mottled with tawny-yellow ; wings and tail transversely barred ; 

 under parts yellowish-brown with dark streaks and bars ; head with 

 long ear-tufts ; no operculum ; legs thickly feathered to the toes ; 

 irides bright orange. Length of the male about 24 in. ; of the 

 female 28 in. 



