132 SHORT-EARED OWL. 



Bewick, in his History of British Birds, remarks, that this spe- 

 cies is sometimes seen in companies; twenty-eight of them being 

 once counted in a turnip field in November. 



Length fifteen inches, extent three feet four inches; general 

 colour above dark brown, the feathers broadly skirted with pale 

 yellowish brown; bill large, black; irides rich golden yellow, 

 placed in a bed of deep black, which radiates outwards all around, 

 except towards the bill, where the plumage is whitish ; ears bor- 

 dered with a semicircular line of black and tawny yellow dots; 

 tail rounded, longer than usual with Owls, crossed with five 

 bands of dark brown, and as many of yellow ochre, some of the 

 latter have central spots of dark brown, the whole tipt with 

 white; quills also banded with dark brown and yellow ochre; 

 breast and belly streaked with dark brown, on a ground of yel- 

 lowish; legs, thighs and vent, plain dull yellow; tips of the three 

 first quill feathers black; legs clothed to the claws, which are 

 black, curved to about the quarter of a circle, and exceedingly 

 sharp. 



The female I have never seen ; but she is said to be somewhat 

 larger and much darker; and the spots on the breast larger and 

 more numerous. 



