ASIO. 129 



Family STRIGID^. 



Genus ASIO Brisson, Orn. i. 1760, p. 477. 

 Type : A. otus Linn. 



Asio=& Horned Owl in Pliny (If. N. x. 33; xxix. 38); perhaps akin to 

 esmu.s=an ass, from its long ears. 



Asio otus. LONG-EARED OWL. 



Strix Otus Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 92 : Sweden. 



Asio otus (Linn.) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. ii. 1875, p. 227 ; 



B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 86; Saunders, Manual, 



2nd ed. 1899, p. 293. 



Otus=utr6s, an Owl conspicuous for its ears, Stra. 

 Distribution in the British Islands. A Eesident, generally 

 distributed in wooded districts. It has occurred in the Outer 

 Hebrides and in the Shetlands on passage, and migrants 

 have been observed in some numbers on the east coast of 

 Britain in autumn. 



General Distribution. The Long-eared Owl inhabits the 

 wooded districts of Europe, ranging from Scandinavia and 

 Russia to 6H N. latitude, eastwards across Siberia to Japan, 

 southwards to the Azores, north-west Africa, Abyssinia, and 

 the Himalaya, visiting India in winter. It is accidental in 

 Iceland, the Faeroes, Madeira, Corsica, and Cyprus. In the 

 Canary Islands it is represented by a rather smaller and 

 darker race, and in North America by A. o. wilsonianus. 



Asio accipitrinus. SHORT-EARED OWL. 



Stryx accipitrina Pallas, Reise Riiss. Reichs, i. 1771, 

 p. 455 : Caspian Sea. Ji. C. 



Asio accipitrinus (Pall.) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. ii. 1875, 



p. 234 ; Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 295. 

 Asio brachyotus (Forst.) ; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 86. 

 Accipitrinus hawk-like. 



Distribution in the British Islands. A Eesident. also a 



K 



