160 BRITISH BIRDS. 
STRIX OTUS. 
LONG-EARED OWL. 
(PLATE 7.) 
Asio asio, Briss. Orn. i. p. 486 (1760). 
Strix otus, Zinn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 132 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum— Vieillot, 
Naumann, Temminck, Schlegel, Sundevall, (Newton), &c. 
Bubo minor, Gerint, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 85, pl. lxxxii. (1767). 
Bubo vulgaris, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 85, pl. Ixxxil. (1767). 
Bubo otus (Linn.), Sav. Syst. Ois. de [ Egypte, p. 49 (1810). 
Otus asio (Briss.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Sc. Brit. Mus. p. 11 (1816). 
Otus otus (Linn.), Cuv. Réegne An. i. p. 328 (1817). 
Otus europeeus, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 57 (1826). 
Otus vulgaris (Gerint), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 56 (1828). 
Asio otus (Linn.), Less. Man. d’ Orn, i. p. 116 (1828). 
Otus communis, Less. Traité, p. 110 (1851). 
Otus aurita, Renn. ed. Mont. Orn, Dict. p. 262 (1883). 
Aegolius otus (Linn.), Keys. § Blas. Wirb. Eur. p. 143 (1840). 
Otus verus, Finsch, Journ. Orn. 1859, p. 381. 
The Long-eared Owl is generally distributed throughout the British 
Islands, beg most common in those districts which abound in pine- 
forests. It has not been met with in Greenland, but is an accidental 
visitor to Iceland and the Orkney and Shetland Isles. It is not found 
in the Outer Hebrides, but breeds i Mull and Skye. It is distributed 
throughout the Palearctic Region, and the Himalayas as far east as the 
shores of the sea of Ochotsk and Japan, but becomes extremely rare towards 
the arctic circle. It has been recorded from the Azores, the Madeiras, and 
the Canary Islands. It is a partial migrant; and on the east coast both of 
England and Scotland its numbers are increased by autumn arrivals from 
Scandinavia. In South Europe and North Africa it is principally a winter 
visitant, in Spain breeding only on the mountains, doubtfully recorded 
during the breeding-season from Algiers and Egypt, and hitherto observed 
only during passage or in winter in Greece. In Palestine and Asia Minor 
it probably breeds on the mountains and highlands, descending to the plains 
during winter only. In Turkestan it is found principally on migration, 
and winters in Persia and Afghanistan. The Himalayan birds winter in 
the plains of North India. In the valley of the Amoor, Japan, aud in 
North China it is apparently a winter visitor. In the Nearctic Region it 
is represented by S. americanus, a species which approaches so near to 
the European one that only a practised eye can detect the difference. 
The American bird has the upper parts more uniform in colour, the 
