218 WOODLAND CREATURES 



Brown Owl one of the most fascinating of birds, 

 but it is also one of the most beneficial of all 

 our woodland creatures. To it, the kestrel, 

 and the Barn Owl do we owe it that the ever- 

 multiplying mice are kept within reasonable 

 bounds. 



(The British Tawny Owl is ranked by Witherby 

 in his Handbook as a sub-species, Strix aluco 

 sylvatica, Shaw, of the widely distributed Strix 

 aluco, Linn., which ranges through Europe. The 

 British race is smaller than the Continental. 



The Long-Eared Owl, Asio otus, Linn., is found 

 throughout the Continent and North Asia, also North- 

 West Africa, but is subject to practically no variation 

 in the British Isles or the rest of Europe, so the 

 question of sub-species need not be discussed here.} 



