286 SHORT-EARED OWL, 



rank as summer, perhaps permanent residents. 

 Hoy, and the other Hebrides, where they were 

 first discovered to breed, were considered the 

 southern limit of their incubation ; but it extends 

 much farther, and may be perhaps stated as the 

 extensive muirland ranges of Cumberland, West- 

 moreland, and Northumberland. Over all the 

 Scottish muirs it occurs in considerable abundance ; 

 there are few sportsmen who are unacquainted with 

 it ; many being killed during the grouse season, 

 and those individuals which Mr Selby mentions 

 occurring on the upland muirs, most probably bred 

 there. On the extensive muirs at the head of the 

 Dryfe, a small rivulet in Dumfries-shire, I have, 

 for many years past, met with one or two pairs of 

 these birds ; and the accidental discovery of their 

 young first turned my attention to the range of 

 their breeding ; for, previous to this, I also held 

 the opinion that they had commenced their migra- 

 tion southward. The young was discovered by 

 one of my dogs pointing it ; and in the following 

 year, by searching at the proper season, two nests 

 were found, with five eggs each. The nests were 

 formed upon the ground on the heath ; the 

 bottom scraped until the fresh earth appeared, on 

 which the eggs were placed, without any lining or 

 other accessary covering. When approaching the 

 nest or young, the old birds fly and hover round, 



