224 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



In the rural districts of Scotland, where superstition still lingers, 

 the "hoolet" continues to be regarded with aversion, and its visits 

 to the farm-house are looked upon as the forerunners of disaster to 

 the family. Its cry, when heard at night, is described as most pene- 

 trating and depressing, and it is often referred to in this way in the 

 literature of the country. 



In a song by Tannahill, the fellow-townsman and brother poet of 

 Wilson, the Ornithologist, the hero is entreating admission to the 

 chamber of his lady-love, and in describing his uncomfortable posi- 

 tion outside, mentions among other causes, that the " cry o ? hoolets 

 mak's me eerie." Such sounds, when heard unexpectedly at night, 

 in a lonely place, are not calculated to inspire courage in a breast 

 already depressed with superstitious fear, but the effect produced 

 must, to a great extent, depend on the train of thought passing 

 through the mind of the hearer at the time. Many a stalwart Scot 

 may have quailed at the cry of the hoolet when heard under certain 

 conditions, but it is a matter of history that the sons of that romantic 

 land, when roused to enthusiasm by similar sounds extorted from the 

 national instrument, have performed deeds of personal valor which 

 will live in song and story so long as poets and historians seek such 

 themes. 



FAMILY BUBONID^E. HORNED OWLS, ETC. 



GENUS ASIO BRISSON. 

 ASIO WILSONIANUS (LESS.). 



158. American Long-eared Owl. (366) 



General plumage above, a variegation of dark brown, fulvous and whitish, 

 in small pattern ; breast, more fulvous ; belly, whiter ; the former, sharply 

 striped ; the latter, striped and elaborately barred with blackish ; quills and 

 tail mottled and closely barred with fulvous and dark brown ; face, pale, with 

 black touches and eye patches ; bill and claws, blackish. Kar-tufts, of 8 to 12 

 feathers. Length, 14-15; wing, 11-12; tail, 5-6. 



HAB. Temperate North America. 



Nest, of sticks, loosely put together, lined with a few feathers, variable as 

 to situation, frequently in a thick evergreen. 



Eggs, four to six, oval, white. 



The Long-eared Owl is strictly nocturnal in its habits, and is 

 seldom seen abroad by day, except when disturbed in its retirement 

 among the evergreens. So far as I have observed, it is not a com- 



