150 



far north as Hudson's Bay. It is a constant resi- 

 dent in England and Scotland, occurring in the 

 wooded parts of these countries. Plantations of 

 fir, in which it finds a sheltered retreat during the 

 day, and also thick holly or ivy bushes, are its 

 favourite haunts. It breeds early in the spring, 

 not making any nest of its own, but taking posses- 

 sion of that of a magpie or crow. Its eggs, of 

 which there are generally four or five, are white, 

 and rather larger and rounder than those of the 

 Ring-dove. Mice and moles form the principal 

 part of its food. 



OWL, MOTTLED. 



AMERICAN MOTTLED OWL. 



STRIX Asio, Lin. 



The Mottled Owl inhabits the Oregon and the 

 Columbia River districts, and is met with abun- 

 dantly in the British provinces of New Brunswick, 

 Nova Scotia, &c. In England a specimen of this 

 bird was shot by Joseph Owen of Kirkstall, in the 

 breeding season of 1852, in Hawksworth Cover, 

 the property of Lord Cardigan, half a mile above 

 Kirkstall Abbey, on the banks of the river Aire, 

 and about four miles west of Leeds. A pair of 

 these Owls having been seen by Mr. Owen, he 

 shot one, and went night after night to the haunts 

 they had both frequented to obtain the other, but 



