OWLS 31 



nowhere of frequent occurrence. During the day it keeps to dense bushes 

 hollow trees, and never, like the little owl, enters buildings. Although appear- 

 ing in greater numbers in spring and autumn, it is a shy and solitary bird, 

 only rarely seen. Its nest is placed in firs, beeches, and other trees at a height 

 of some 50 feet from the ground, generally in holes with a wide opening. The 

 young begin to chirp early in the morning, but are silenced by the plaintive 

 notes of the female, which resemble a low human wailing. This owl flies so 

 noiselessly that even a mouse does not hear it, the flight being very like that 

 of a kite with much hovering and fluttering, and never in jerks and curves 

 like that of the little owl. Tengmalm's owl is 9| inches long and has the facial 

 disc nearly complete, the toes heavily feathered, and the plumage thick and fluffy. 

 It is brown above, much spotted with white, and white below irregularly barred 

 with brown, but the spots on the wings and tail disappear with age. 



The favourite residences of the hawk-owl (Surnia ulula) are the birch-forests 

 of the north of Europe and Asia; but its breeding-area does not extend so far 

 north or south as that of the snowy owl, although the bird is everywhere more 

 frequent, especially in the Ural Mountains. Avoiding rocks, this species is 

 essentially a bird of the woods, which frequents the plains and is often seen in 

 marshes and swamps where there are bushes. The northern winter drives it 

 southwards, when it regularly appears in the Baltic countries down to Denmark 

 in the west, and occasionally straggles to the British Isles, southern Germany, and 

 also to similar latitudes farther east. In March these owls return to the north to 

 breed among the birch trees, the trunks of which they resemble in colour and 

 marking. When it does not make use of the hollow of a tree, or the re-lined nest 

 of a crow, the hawk owl builds a nest of its own of thin twigs, leaves, and moss, on 

 some tall tree. So courageously does this owl defend its nest against other birds, 

 that there is scarcely a bird in its native forest safe from its attacks. It seizes 

 jays as they fly, and kills the willow-grouse and other birds much superior to itself 

 in size and weight; but it chiefly preys on voles, mice, and lemmings, on which it 

 darts down like a falcon and strangles with its claws. For a while it sits waiting 



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for prey on some dry bough, like a shrike, soon to fly hovering and searching close 

 to the ground, after which it suddenly settles on some point of vantage to watch 

 again. Its beautiful flight has much of the gracefulness of the kestrel, for which 



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it might indeed be mistaken, did not its thick head serve to show its owl nature. 

 It soars like a kestrel by day, and especially in the afternoon, as also at dusk. Its 

 quick and agile movements and its habits so much resemble those of diurnal birds- 

 of-prey that it well deserves its name from these traits, as it also does from the 

 dark undulating hawk-like lines on the lower parts of the body. The head is flpt 

 and low, the face narrow, without a disc, the tail long and graduated, the wings 

 slightly pointed, the feathers of the crown smooth, and those of the sides of the 

 head bristled. It has neither ear-tufts nor an operculum, and its legs are covered 

 with greyish feathers. In length this owl measures about 14 inches. The back 

 and wings are brown with white spots, the tail is brown with nine white cross- 

 bars, and the face white with a black edge on each side. 



The same localities are inhabited by a still more exclusively northern species, 

 the Lapp owl (Syrnium lapponicum), which breeds in the far north of Europe 



