144 LONG-EARED OWL 
of a Screech-Owl being attracted by a solitary midnight taper to 
flutter against the window of a sick room, and there to utter its 
melancholy wail, should for a time shake the faith of the watcher, 
and, when repeated with the customary exaggerations, should 
obtain for the poor harmless mouser the unmerited title of ‘ harbinger 
of death’. 
Sus-Famity SYRNIINZE 
LONG-EARED OWL 
ASIO OTUS 
Beak black; iris orange yellow; egrets very long, composed of eight or ten 
black feathers, edged with yellow and white ; upper parts reddish yellow, 
mottled with brown and grey; lower parts lighter, with oblong streaks 
of deep brown. Length fifteen inches; breadth thirty-eight inches. 
Eggs white. 
THOUGH not among the most frequent of the English Owls, this 
species occurs in most of the wooded parts of England and Ireland, 
as indeed it does in nearly all parts: of the world where woods are 
to be found. It ismore common than is usually supposed in France, 
where it unites in its own person all the malpractices which have 
been popularly ascribed to the whole tribe of Owls. It is there 
said to be held in great detestation by all the rest of the feathered 
tribe ; a fact which is turned to good account by the bird-catcher, 
who, having set his traps and limed twigs, conceals himself in the 
neighbourhood and imitates the note of this Owl. The little birds, 
impelled by rage or fear, or a silly combination of both, assemble 
for the purpose of mobbing the common enemy. In their anxiety 
to discern the object of their abhorrence, they fall one after another 
into the snare, and become the prey of the fowler. The Long-eared 
Owl is not altogether undeserving of the persecution which is thus 
intended for ‘her, her principal food being field-mice, but also such 
little birds as she can surprise when asleep. In fact, she respects 
neither the person nor the property of her neighbours, making her 
home in the old nests of large birds and squirrels, and appropriating, 
as food for herself and her voracious young, the carcases of any 
that she finds herself strong enough to master and kill. 
The cry of this bird is only occasionally uttered—a sort of barking 
noise. The note of the young bird is a loud mewing and seems to 
be intended as a petition to its parents for a supply of food. A 
writer in the Zoologist,1 who has had many opportunities of observ- 
1 Vol, ii. p. 5624 
