THE GREAT-EARED OWL, OR EAGLE OWL. 



Bubo ma*m2tf. SJBBALD. 



PLATE XXXII. 



Bubo maximus nigri et fusci colons, Sibbald Sc. Illust. ii. p. 

 15. Strix bubo, Linnaus.'Le grand due, Buffon. Great- 

 eared or Horned Owl, Eagle Owl of British ornithologists. 

 .Provincially, Orkney ', Eatogle or Stock Owl. 



THE description of the habits of the Eagle Owl, 

 by one who has observed it in a wild state, is 

 yet a desideratum in a history of British birds. 

 Northern Europe seems to be the stronghold of this 

 fine species ; Norway, Russia, and Germany, are 

 given by ornithologists as the countries where 

 it most abounds, but its rank, as a British species, 

 rests only on a few instances of its capture, and 

 on one or two records of its appearance, which 

 are by no means circumstantially detailed. " In 

 Orcadibus" is all that Sibbald tells us, and the 

 Orkneys have been handed down as a locality, 

 without the instances of its capture being regu- 

 larly and authentically recorded. Dr Neill, in 

 addition to the account given by Dr Barry, says, 

 " it may be added that it often attacks rabbits and 

 red grouse, which are abundant in several of the 



