SHORT-EARED OWL. 285 



This bird, the Strix Irachyotos^ Linnaeus, Otus 

 Irachyotos, Cuvier, will stand as one of our 

 migratory or partially migratory species. In Eng- 

 land, to the sruth of Durham, it is a winter visi- 

 tant ; but tc the north of this it breeds, extending 

 to the Hebrides, where a few specimens may be 

 also seen during the winter months. In the 8vo. 

 edition of Wilson's North American Ornithology, 

 we detailed our observations on this species. Since 

 that period, we have had no opportunity of seeing 

 the birds in their breeding haunts, and we there- 

 fore now give the* substance of what we then wrote. 

 " In England it has received the name of Wood- 

 cock Owl, from appearing nearly about the same 

 time with that bird. They perhaps then do not 

 remain stationary, but are met with in their 

 migration to and from the north, similar to the 

 appearance, for a few days, of the ring-ouzels and 

 dotterels. In spring, they are seen singly or in 

 pairs, and in the fall, in small groups, the amount 

 of their broods when again retiring. They do 

 not appear to be otherwise gregarious, and it is 

 only in this way that we can account for the flock 

 of twenty-eight which Bewick records as seen 

 together in a turnip field, and the instances men- 

 tioned by Mr Selby, of five or six of these birds 

 being frequently found roosting together. In 

 the North of England and in Scotland, they will 



