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LONG-EARED OWL. 
LONG-HORNED OWL. 
Strix otus, Linnzus. LATHAM. 
Otus vulgaris, FLEMING. SELBY. 
NStriz—Some species of Owl. Ous, (plural ota)—An ear, 
As wisdom is certainly both more to be acquired and more 
to be considered to exist as the consequence of hearing, than 
of any other of the senses, the ‘ears’ of this species may have 
been the procuring a cause of the agnomen of the ‘Bird of 
wisdom’ attaching to its kind. It might, however, possibly 
be objected to this theory, that if it were correct, the ass 
should be deemed the wisest of animals. 
The Long-eared Owl is, plentiful in many countries of all 
four quarters of the globe. In Europe it occurs in Denmark, 
Russia, Sweden, Norway, France, Italy, Turkey, and Spain. 
In this country it is generally distributed, though nowhere 
numerous. In the fir woods, north-east of York, it is to be 
commonly thet with. It is also a resident in Ireland and 
Scotland. 
This Owl is not only a nocturnal, but occasionally, and 
and even in bright sunshine, a diurnal feeder: for the most 
part, however, it keeps quiet by day. It is readily tamed, 
and affords much amusement by the many grotesque attitudes 
it assumes, to which its ears and eyes give piquancy. It may 
often be detected with a small orifice left through which it 
is peeping when its eyes would seem to be shut; and it has 
the singular faculty of being able to close one eye while the 
other is not shut; so that it may appear to be ‘wide awake’ on 
one side, while apparently asleep on the other, or, if asleep, may 
be so literally ‘with one eye open.’ The ears are raised by 
any excitement; at other times they are depressed. If attacked, 
