66 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



rather radically from this rule ; for the Kev. 

 M. C. H. Bird, of Stalham, tells me that he has 

 known one member of the species nest on the 

 ground in his neighbourhood, and I have an 

 instance of its breeding in a large hole in a tree 

 in Essex. In this the bird and its young ones 

 lived in peace, until it took to visiting a farmer's 

 Dove - cotes close by at night - time and abscond- 

 ing with his young pigeons, when a breechloader 

 killed it in flagrante delicto. 



Our illustration was secured in a small wood 

 at Ingham, in Norfolk. From the appearance of 

 the structure in which the bird had laid its eggs, 

 one would conclude that it had once been a 

 Carrion Crow's nest, although placed rather low 

 down for that bird's love of a good outlook. The 

 Long-Eared Owl reared a brood of young ones in 

 it this year ; but, unfortunately, they were cap- 

 tured directly they left the nest, and after being 

 kept in confinement for a while and fed upon 

 dead ducklings, they were killed and sent to the 

 bird-staffer's shop. 



The eggs number from three to seven, but 

 more generally four or five are found, white in 

 colour and oval in shape. 



OWL, SHORT-EARED. 



ALTHOUGH probably never anything but a scarce 

 species during the nesting season in the Norfolk 

 Broad district, this bird seems to have maintained 

 its position better than many others that might be 

 placed in the same category in regard to breeding 



