THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 163 



Genus ASIO, Brisson. 



543. ASIO ACCIPITRINUS. 

 THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 



Stryx accipitrina, Pall. Reise Russ. Reichs, i. p. 455. Strix brachyotos, Forst. 

 Phil. Trans. Ixii. p. 384 ; Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 289 ; Seebohm, Brit. Birds, i. p. 167. 

 Otus brachyotus, Jerd. B. 2nd. i. p. 126 j Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 364 ; 

 David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 41. .ffigolius brachyotus, Bl. fy Wald. B.Burm. 

 p. 66. Asio accipitrinus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. ii. p. 234 ; Dresser, Birds 

 Eur. v. p. 257, pi. ; Wardlaw Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 454 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. yi. 

 p. 30 ; Cripps, S. F. vii. p. 253 j Hume, S. F. viii. p. 83 ; Gates, S. F. x. p. 182. 



Description. Male and female. The whole upper plumage and wing- 

 coverts brown, each feather margined at the sides with tawny, more broadly 

 so on the neck and back than elsewhere ; tail light tawny, regularly banded 

 with brown ; the tawny interspaces on the central feathers also mottled 

 with brown ; quills bright tawny barred with brown ; a black ring round 

 the eye ; disk dull tawny, streaked with black ; lower plumage fulvous, 

 streaked with dark brown, the streaks broadest on the throat and gradually 

 diminishing in width ; thighs and under tail-coverts without streaks ; ear- 

 tufts very short. 



Bill and claws blackish ; iris bright yellow. 



Length 15 inches, tail 6 '3, wing 12, tarsus 1*8, bill from gape 1*2. The 

 female is a little larger. 



The Short-eared Owl is stated by Mr. Blyth to occur in Arrakan; and 

 Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay procured one specimen at Tonghoo in Pegu. 



This species is found nearly over the whole world, except in very high 

 latitudes ; and it is absent, according to Mr. Sharpe, from West Africa, 

 Australia and the greater portion of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Mr. 

 Seebohm met with it in Siberia in 67 N. lat. 



This Owl is found in India principally in long grass, and it is only a 

 winter visitor. It is very likely to be found commonly in some parts of 

 British Burmah when plains of grass are beaten for game ; and I am under 

 the impression I have seen it more than once under these circumstances. 

 It has a cry consisting of three hoots, and it lays its eggs on the bare 

 ground. It does not, of course, breed in Burmah. 



