6 NESTING OF THE EAGLE OWL AT CROYDON. 



rejected fur, feathers, and bones of their prey, 

 which are cast up by the parent bird, and, accumu- 

 lating by degrees, form a soft bed for the eggs or 

 young. The long-eared owl commonly deposits its 

 eggs in the deserted nest of a squirrel, or occasion- 

 ally in that of a magpie or carrion-crow, but I 

 believe no materials are added by the owls to the 

 original structure. The Lapp owl (Syrnium lappo- 

 nica), a large and rare northern species, is said to 

 build a large nest in trees. The late Mr. Wolley, 

 in " Ootheca Wolleyana," edited by Professor 

 Newton, gives it as his opinion that the eggs are 

 usually laid in a depression on the top of a broken- 

 off tree ; but Professor Nilsson, in his work on the 

 Scandinavian fauna, states on the authority of Herr 

 von Seth, who took a journey into Lulea-Lappmark, 

 in 1842, that this species of owl builds a very large 

 nest in a high tree, where it lays several white eggs. 

 Mr. Wolley also mentions an instance in which two 

 eggs were brought to him from Kurkio-Vaara, in 

 Kemi-Lappmark. The nest was stated by the finder 

 to have been made of sticks and loose rubbish, and to 

 have been placed about twenty feet from the ground 

 in a large Scotch fir-tree. His informant also alleges 

 that it was not a new nest, and was about two feet 

 in thickness. The eagle owl in its wild state is an 

 inhabitant of the greater portion of Europe, though 

 only a rare visitant of the British Islands. It 



