food of the Short-eared Owl is chiefly composed of field-mice and various 

 species of short-tailed voles. I remember, during the vole plague in Tweeds- 

 muir in 1892, the Short-eared Owls appeared in great numbers from no one 

 knows where. All day they might be seen, hovering above the infected area, 

 every now and then dropping down to seize a vole, which was speedily 

 devoured. They must have been of great service in ridding the county of 

 what was a serious pest. For two years afterwards a few pairs lingered on, 

 and nested on the heather-clad hillsides ; but very soon the keepers had shot 

 or trapped them all, and now they are extinct in the district, till the voles 

 again break out. Besides mice, the Short-eared Owl takes small birds, 

 beetles, surface-feeding fish, rats, and frogs, and has been seen to take a bat 

 on the wing. The remains of golden plover, snipe, and red grouse have 

 also been found in its nest, but most probably they were weakly or wounded 

 birds. 



I have never heard the Short-eared Owl make any other noise than a 

 harsh scream, usually uttered as the bird rose from the ground or off its nest. 



The Short-eared Owl very probably pairs for life. It is an early breeder, 

 its eggs being found as early as the beginning of April ; though May is perhaps 

 its usual laying season. Unlike most of this genus, that seek a covered site 

 and lay white eggs, the Short-eared Owl lays its conspicuous white eggs in an 

 exposed and open nest on the ground. Among the broads of Norfolk the 

 nest is usually built among the coarse grass and rushes, or at the foot of 

 some heap of cut reeds. In Tweedsmuir the nests were placed among the 

 coarse grass on the hillsides, or among long heather, one nest being under 

 the shelter of a small willow bush near a burn on a damp piece of ground. 

 In Orkney, most of the nests I have seen were quite open, and placed among 

 heather. The old bird sits very close, and often allows herself to be approached 

 within a very short distance ere she rises and flies steadily away. 



The Short-eared Owl lays from four to eight eggs ; occasionally as many 

 as nine are found. They are deposited at considerable intervals, as it is not 

 uncommon to find half-fledged young and fresh eggs in the same nest. They 

 are not quite so round as is usual with Owls' eggs, and are creamy white in 

 ground-colour, though they often get stained if the nest be at all damp. They 

 vary from r65 to 1*51 inch in length, and from 1*30 to i'2O in breadth. 



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