OWLS. 269 



winter individuals, principally younger birds, wander to a 

 distance, and solitary examples are then shot in many parts 

 of the country. It is a fine bold bird, and its solitary habits 

 and loud shriek, ' ' kra-u, kra-u," are in perfect keeping with 

 the wild regions which it frequents. It is a very erratic bird, 

 and its wanderings are much dependent on the migrations 

 of the lemming. 



The nest, placed on the ground, often on a projecting 

 rock, is a large ball of reindeer moss, and a few sticks. Eggs 

 six or seven ; rather elongated, perfectly white. The nest I 

 took in Lapland, on June 2, contained six eggs. The old 

 female we shot was nearly pure white. 



23. STRixFuNEKEA,Lath. HokUggla. The Hawk Owl. D.F. 



Length about 15 in. ; the pointed tail reaches 3 in. 



beyond the closed wings. Whole body colour, brown; 



darker or lighter dependent upon age and season ; 



covered all over with white spots, especially on the 



shoulders and head. 



Is certainly in Lapland the commonest of all the owls. 

 But although never a winter passes without our obtaining 

 two or three specimens in the middle of the country, the 

 northern forests, at the foot of the fells, are its proper 

 home, and I never could hear of its breeding any where 

 else. In habits and flight this bird much more resembles 

 the falcons than the owls. 



The full number of eggs, according to my experience, 

 is six, although I have taken more out of a nest; and 

 in size and appearance they often much resemble those 

 of the short-eared owl. Usual size 1^- by I. I never took 

 them from any other place than out of a hole in a dead 

 fir or pine, and this is quite contrary to the information 

 which other naturalists give us of the breeding habits of this 

 bird. JSTo signs of a nest ; eggs always laid on the rotten 

 wood, like the Woodpecker's. Go to nest in the end of 

 April. 



24. S. PASSERINA, L. Sparf Uggla. F. D. 



This is the smallest of all European owls ; scarcely 7 in. 



