202 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



and strongly as any ordinary bird. Although they 

 are reckoned as migratory birds, some few of 

 them remain to breed in this country, in the moors 

 and marshy grounds. 



The sense of hearing possessed by owls must 

 be extremely acute. If the ear of an owl is 

 examined, its structure will be observed to be 

 very peculiar. The face of an owl is, generally 

 speaking, nearly circular, and is termed the disc, 

 the feathers radiating outwards. The outer 

 edges of this disc are capable of being raised 

 or depressed at will ; and if lifted up, they will 

 be seen to be two large pocket-shaped ear- 

 flaps, affording very efficient protection to the 

 ear when closed, but when opened acting as ear- 

 trumpets. They are lined with a tough mem- 

 branous skin, and are destitute of feathers. In 

 writing of the short-eared owl, the Rev. C. A. 

 Johns, in his work on British birds, remarks : 

 ' The short-eared owl affords a beautiful illustra- 

 tion of a fact not generally known that the 

 nocturnal birds of prey have the right and left ear 

 differently formed, one ear being so made as to 

 hear sounds from above, and the other from 

 below. The opening into the. channel for con- 

 veying sound is in the right ear placed beneatk 

 the transverse fold, and directed ^lp e wards, while 

 in the left ear the same opening is placed above 

 the channel for conveying sound, and is directed 

 downwards! 



For the purpose of the present work, reference 



