130 
SHORT-EARED OWL. 
WOODCOCK OWL. SHORT-HORNED OWL. HAWK OWL. 
MOUSE HAWK. 
Strix brachyotos, Montacu. BEwIck. 
$ ‘S| lula, LATHAM. 
Otus brachyotos, SELBY. GOULD. 
Stric—A kind of Owl. Brachyotos. Brachus—Short. 
Os, (plural ota)—An ear. 
Tue remark made at the commencement of the next article, 
applies in a modified degree to the bird whose natural history 
is at present under consideration. I hope we shall never 
ourselves be so overwise as to undervalue the tales of our 
childhood; and, if so, the question ‘what ears you have!’ and 
the philosophical answer ‘the better to hear with;’ will never 
be effaced from our recollection. 
The Short-eared Owl is found in Germany, Holland, most 
parts of Europe, and North and South America. 
Unlike the next species, this one avoids the shelter of 
woods, and makes itself conspicuous in the open country, 
seeming to prefer moist situations: in the eastern side of 
the island it is the most numerous, as if it had crossed over 
from the continent. 
It is a migratory bird, arriving among us in October, and 
departing in March; and as five or six are sometimes found 
roosting together, it is deemed probable that they migrate in 
flocks, more or less large. On one occasion, in Ireland, 
thirteen or fourteen were seen together. They breed in 
Northumberland, and probably other northern counties; in 
the Orkneys, in Dumfriesshire and other parts of Scotland: 
several of their nests have been found in Norfolk, and one, 
it is believed, in Suffolk. 
They feed by day, especially in dull weather, and may 
