OTUS BRACHYOTOS. lf)<) 



The Short-Eared or Hawk-Owl. 



(Strix Otus.) Linn. (Otus Bracliyotos.) Guv. 



" The night to the owl and morn to the lark. "— Shakespeare. 



In colour, size, and softness of plumage this owl resembles 

 the last (whose horns of ten or twelve feathers project an inch), 

 only this one is darker, and the feathers more streaked with 

 liver brown — hence it is called the streaked-tufted owl, as the 

 other is the mottled-tufted owl ; but the head is smaller ; the 

 so-called horns of three feathers much shorter, projecting only 

 hal fan-inch ; and the disc round the eyes much darker, which 

 easily distinguish them. The tarsi and toes, also feathered to 

 the claws, are stronger than the last ; the bill is also stronger. 

 It is well-named the hawk owl or mouse hawk, as it is liker the 

 day birds of prey than most of the owls, and is one of the links 

 between the FalconidaB and them. As the ear-tufts are hardly 

 noticed when the bird is dead it is sometimes mistaken for 

 another species. Although its prey chiefly consists of field mice, 

 &c, it will snatch up chickens from the door and chase pigeons 

 like a sparrow-hawk in daylight • it strikes down and carries off 

 grouse — birds double its weight ; it also preys on small birds, 

 such as larks and buntings. Its nest, unlike the rest of the 

 owls, is placed on the ground amongst heather, sedges, or rushes. 

 The eggs, usually five, are a little larger than those of the last, 

 being 1| by 1J inches. Fifty years ago it bred on Priormuir 

 and Tentsmuir ; but during all my rambles for many years I 

 have not found one of their nests, and I am not aware of it 

 breeding now in Fife, unless on the Lomond Hills. Its nest is 

 seldom found in the south of England, where it is considered 

 migratory from October to March, and is called the " Woodcock 

 Owl," from its coming and leaving the same time as that bird ; 

 but in the moors and wilder districts of Scotland it is generally 

 distributed. It merely scrapes a hollow amongst the heath and 

 lays on the bare ground, sometimes in a bunch of long heather ; 

 and in fenny ground amongst sedges or rushes. As I have 

 repeatedly mentioned Tentsmuir, I may say it is a wide stretch 

 of moorland between the Firth of Tay and the river Eden — 

 bounded on the east by St Andrews Bay, where the Norsemen 

 and Danes often landed, and the word Tents-muiv probably takes 

 its rise from temporary settlements in tents. Little is generally 



