EAGLE OWL. 125 



In the southern and western counties of England, the 

 Great Eagle Owl has been obtained in Kent, Sussex, and 

 Devonshire : in the counties north of London, it is recorded 

 as having been taken in Suffolk, Yorkshire, and Durham. 

 The only record of the Eagle Owl's occurrence in Ireland, 

 according to Mr. Thompson,* appears in Mr. Stewart's 

 Catalogue of the Birds of Donegal, in the following words : 

 " Four of these birds paid us a visit for two days, after 

 a great storm from the north, when the ground was covered 

 with snow. They have not since been seen here. As I 

 am informed that a pair of them breed in Tory Island, 

 about nine miles to the north of this coast, it is probable 

 that they came from that island. I have heard of them 

 nowhere else." 



This bird inhabits Denmark, Sweden, Norway Lapland, 

 Russia, and the continent of Europe generally, but par- 

 ticularly the fir-covered mountains of Switzerland, and 

 the high rocky country of Aragon, extending southward 

 as far as Italy, Turkey, Corfu, and Sicily. Mr. Strick- 

 land saw specimens at Smyrna, and it is recorded as 

 inhabiting the Morea. Pennant says it is found as far 

 to the eastward as Lake Baikal and Astrakhan ; and Mr. 

 Gould has seen skins of this bird in collections from 

 China. 



It is well known as a species here, being constantly 

 exhibited in various menageries, where it is mostly quiet, 

 uttering no sound except an occasional sharp and snapping 

 noise made with the bill. They breed in confinement at 

 Arundel Castle, and elsewhere. Our figure was taken from 

 a bird in the Garden of the Zoological Society, and the 

 description from specimens in the museum. The beak is 

 nearly black, the base of it hid by the radiating feathers 

 forming the inner portion of the facial disk ; irides bright 

 * Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vol. ii. p. 176. 



