THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 23 



The eggs are usually five or six in number, white, 

 smaller in size than those of the Barn Owl, and 

 smoother in texture. 



Unlike its congeners, the Short- eared Owl 

 evinces no partiality for woods, but affects the open 

 country, roosting upon the ground by day, under 

 shelter of dry grass, sedge, or heath, and hunting for 

 its food as soon as the sun has disappeared. We 

 have often thought, however, when watching the 

 flight of one of these birds when disturbed in the 

 daytime, that its bolder and more hawk-like flight, 

 and the fact of its living out in the open country, 

 indicated habits less nocturnal than those of other 

 Owls. Its sight is wonderfully keen, and if once 

 disturbed and not shot, it is almost impossible to 

 approach within range of it a second time. It has 

 been stated on the authority of Capt. Portlock, in 

 the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (vol. i. 

 p. 52), that in a rabbit warren at Magilligan, county 

 of Londonderry, where the Short -eared Owl is a 

 regular visitant in autumn, birds of this species have 

 been seen at the entrance to the burrows, within 

 which they retired when disturbed : more than one 

 was shot on emerging from a hole, and one was 



