8 4 



THE BIRDS OF THE WOODS 



En 6 



the i 



land, the eagle-owl 



oup. It ranges 



Europe 



spherical. Owls build in various places, most of thern choosing hollows of trees, 

 rocky clefts or holes, and hiding-places in walls of buildings, while some take 

 possession of the abandoned nests of crows and birds-of-prey. Others nest on the 

 ground, others again in cavities under the ground which they share with certain 

 rodents. Owls are feared by nearly all other birds, and as soon as they appear by 

 day are mobbed and driven off by the smaller species. 



The horned owl, or, as it is generally called in 

 (Bubo ignavus), is the largest European member of 



through Europe from 

 northern Africa to with- 

 in the Arctic Circle, is 

 rather common in Prussia 

 and Pomerania, far from 

 rare in the old ruined 

 castles of southern Ger- 

 many, and numerous in 

 Lithuania and Poland. 

 It is found frequently 

 in western Russia, 

 Turkey, and the Greek 

 mountains, but seldom 

 in Italy and Spain. 

 Really a resident bird, 

 it is only in winter 

 when food is getting 

 scarce, that it is occasion- 

 ally compelled to go on 

 long journeys. Young 

 birds fly about alone, be- 

 cause the old ones will 

 not suffer them in their 

 own preserves, and they 

 lead a single life for 

 years, until they pair 

 and choose a permanent 

 residence. 



Eagle-owls feed on 

 frogs, lizards and snakes, on mice and small mammals, including hares and 

 occasionally young fawns, and very largely on birds. Their favourite food seems 

 indeed to be crows. If they catch a large animal, they first of all tear the skin 

 off the abdomen, and devour the intestines, storing away what they cannot eat 

 for future meals. Before devouring small birds, these owls break the skull 

 with their beaks. They nest in rocky clefts, cavities in the ground, old quarries, 

 ruins, hollows of trees, and pollard stumps, and rarely on tall trees. The nest 

 contains in March or April two, rarely three, and very occasionally four eggs, but 

 it is only exceptionally that more than two hatch. The nest is bravely defended 



THE LONG-EARED OWL. 



