EAGLE OWL. 



Ill 



In the southern and western counties of England, the 

 Great Eagle Owl has been obtained in Kent, Sussex, and 

 Devonshire ; in the counties north of London, it is recorded 

 as having been taken in Suffollc, Yorkshire, and Durham. 

 The only record of the Eagle OwFs occurrence in Ireland, 

 according to Mr. Thompson,* appears in Mr. Stewart's 

 Catalogue of the Birds of Donegal, in the following words : 

 — " Four of these birds paid us a visit for two days, after a 

 great storm from the north, when the ground was covered 

 with snow. They have not since been seen here. As I am 

 informed that a pair of them breed in Tory Island, about 

 nine miles to the north of this coast, it is probable that they 

 came from that island. I have heard of them nowhere 

 else." 



This bird inhabits Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Lapland, 

 Russia, and the continent of Europe generally, but particu- 

 larly the fir-covered mountains of Switzerland, and the high 

 rocky country of Aragon, extending southward as far as 

 Italy and Turkey. Mr. Strickland saw specimens at Smyrna, 

 and it is recorded as inhabiting the Morea. Pennant says 

 it is found as far to the eastward as Lake Baikal and Astra- 

 chan ; and Mr. Gould has seen skins of this bird in collec- 

 tions from China. 



It is well known as a species here, being constantly exhi- 

 bited in various menageries, where it is mostly quiet, uttering 

 no sound except an occasional sharp and snapping noise made 

 with the bill. Our figure was taken from a bird in the 

 Garden of the Zoological Society, and the description from 

 specimens in the Museum. The beak is nearly black, the 

 base of it hid by the radiating feathers forming the inner 

 portion of the facial disk ; irides bright orange ; the tufts on 

 the head contain seven or eight dark-coloured feathers, with 

 light brown bars on the inner webs ; the head, neck, and back, 

 * Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vol. ii. p. 176. 



