THE WOOD-OWLS. IO i 



distinct black longitudinal centres to the feathers, which are 

 also laterally barred and freckled, but not always completely 

 banded ; quills dark brown below, with about six lighter bars, 

 those near the base yellowish-white ; bill whitish horn-colour ; 

 claws horny- white at base, darker at tip ; iris blue-black. 



Rufous Phase. Exactly like the grey phase in plumage, but 

 rufous where the other is grey or brown. 



Nestling. Covered with greyish-white down, the first feathers 

 yellowish, with dark-brown cross-markings ; bill ivory-white at 

 the end of both mandibles. 



Range in Great Britain. The Tawny Owl is found in most of 

 the wooded districts of Great Britain, though it is said to be 

 decreasing in numbers, owing to the persecution it is sub- 

 jected to on account of its supposed destructiveness to game. 

 It is, perhaps, more plentiful in the northern districts of Eng- 

 land than in the south, and is distributed over the greater part 

 of Scotland, as well as the Isle of Skye and some of the inner 

 Hebrides. It has not been found in Ireland. 



Range outside the British Islands. Distributed throughout the 

 greater part of Europe and Northern Africa, and extends to 

 Palestine and Syria. It is plentiful in Norway up to Trondh- 

 jem Fiord, but is rarer to the north. In Sweden it is not 

 found so far north, and does not extend to Archangel. In 

 Eastern Russia the limit of its range is said to be lat. 58, 

 and it has been met with in the Caucasus, but not, so far as 

 known, in Siberia. In the Himalayas it is represented by a 

 distinct form, Syrnium nivicoluin, and this is probably the 

 species which occurs in Turkestan. Mr. Seebohm considers 

 this eastern form of the Tawny Owl to belong to the same 

 species as our European bird, but in this conclusion he is 

 certainly mistaken. 



Habits. The Tawny Owl is, as a rule, nocturnal in its 

 habits, and seldom flies in the daylight. If, by any accident, 

 it has been driven from the dark recesses in which it loves to 

 pass the day, it may be seen perched on a large bough or 

 against the trunk of a tree, absolutely immoveable, and appa- 

 rently incapable of any action in the sunlight. Usually, how- 

 ever, it seeks repose in the day-time in some dark hollow of an 



