132 STIORT-EARED OWT. 
The nest, which is built on the ground among long grass, 
heather, rushes, or fern, is composed of moss, hay, or grass, 
or even formed by a mere hollow in the earth. The young 
have been found seated on the ground near the nest before 
they were able to fly. 
The eggs, which are white, are from three to five in 
number. 
The whole plumage of these birds is very soft. Male; 
weight, about eleven ounces; length, one foot two to one foot 
three inches; bill, bluish or brownish black, and partly con- 
cealed by the plumage; cere, the same, the feathers about it 
also white with black shafts. Inris, yellow, with a tinge of 
red, surrounded by a ring of brownish black passing into 
white, and broadest behind; the feathers of the wreath which 
encircles the face are striped with lght ferruginous and 
black, the latter predominating near the ears. The head 
dusky, the feathers edged with light ferruginous. The crown 
is furnished with two tufts or ‘soi-disant’ ears, but which in 
this species are not very conspicuous, and are chiefly set up 
when the bird is asleep or in a quiescent state. Bewick says 
that if frightened, the tufts are depressed, but the fact is 
that their then appearance is rather caused by all the 
feathers of the head being raised, so as nearly to hide the 
former. The tufts, which are placed near together, are com- 
posed of three or four feathers not much longer than the 
other feathers of the head, the longest beimg less than an 
inch in length; they are dusky on the outer webs and 
yellowish white on the inner. Neck, nape, chin, and throat, 
pale buff, with oblong dark brown streaks; breast, pale buff, 
sometimes darker, streaked with dark brown, wider above 
and narrower lower down on the shafts of the feathers, which 
are edged with yellowish. Back, dusky, the feathers edged 
with light ferruginous. 
The wings, long and broad, and expand to the width of 
about three feet, or a little more; underneath they are 
yellowish white, the dark bars on the inner webs shewing 
through: they reach about an inch beyond the tail. Greater 
and lesser wing coverts, mottled with dark dusky and fer- 
ruginous, some of them spotted with yellowish white; primaries, 
very broad, yellowish salmon-colour, greyish towards the tips, 
white at the base of the outer webs: the second is the 
longest, the third nearly as long, the fourth a little shorter 
than the first; some of the quills are strongly serrated on 
