272 TEN YEARS IN SWEDEN. 



(1.) With horns on the forehead. 



27. STKixOius, L. SkogsUf. The Long-Eared Owl. D. F. 



Length about 14 in. ; tail 1 inch shorter than the 

 wings ; with six to eight transverse bands. No differ- 

 ence in the plumage of the sexes, save that the female is 

 much lighter coloured. Horns projecting about 1^ in. 

 beyond the head feathers. Body colour, above speckled 

 brown, rusty yellow, and grey; below rusty yellow, 

 with long brown streaks. 

 Is common throughout the south and middle of Sweden, 



but does not go up into Lapland. Eare in Finland, and 



only met with in the south. 



28. S. BRACHYOTUS, Lath. Kort Orad Uf. The Short- 



eared Owl. D. F. 



This is the only one of the true Swedish owls which 

 leaves the country in the winter, and returns in spring to 

 breed on the Lapland fells, strange to say, passing over 

 the south and middle of the country, where thousands of 

 acres of heather are to be found, apparently quite as well suited 

 to the breeding habits of this bird as the northern British 

 moors, where they are not uncommon in the summer. 



The ear-feathers hardly perceptible till they are raised 

 with the finger. Length about 13 in. Colour much like 

 the last, but lighter and handsomer. The tail, however, is 

 scarcely half an inch shorter than the closed wings, and has 

 but three or four brown cross bands. The eye is moreover 

 entirely encircled in black ; in the last there is only a black 

 patch in the front of the eye. The iris in both is yellow. 



I never found the nest any where but on the Lap fells, 

 where these birds are tolerably common in the summer ; and 

 I have often been amused, as I lay by my camp fire, in 

 watching their airy gyrations, much resembling the flight of 

 the peewit over their breeding grounds, during the whole 

 of the light summer's night. The eggs, six, always placed on 

 the ground ; nest a few bits of dry grass scratched together. 



(2.) Without Ears. 



29. S. LAPPONICA, Sparrm. Lap. Uggla. F. 



Length a little over 2 ft. ; tail rounded, the side 



