TAWNY OWL. 153 



Nidification commences in March. The nest, if it deserves 

 the name, is formed of a few soft feathers, a few straws, or 

 a little moss, sometimes merely of the decayed wood in the 

 hollow of a tree in which it is placed; and has once been 

 observed so low down that a person could see into it from 

 the ground; occasionally it is built in rocks, sometimes, it is 

 said, in barns or the like buildings, or even in the deserted 

 nests of other birds, such as buzzards, crows, and magpies. 

 The young are hatched in April: they continue to perch among 

 the branches of trees in the neighbourhood of the nest before 

 finally taking their leave of it, and are fed during this interval 

 by the parent birds. 



The eggs are white, and from two or three to four or five in 

 number: the first is sat on as soon as laid, and the young are 

 hatched in about three weeks: they are blind for some days, 

 and their red eyelids look as if inflamed. 



The ground colour of these birds varies very much; scarcely 

 two individuals are met with precisely similar in their markings. 

 Male; weight, between fifteen and sixteen ounces; length, one 

 foot one to one foot three inches; bill, pale horn-colour, much 

 hid by bristles; cere, flesh-coloured; iris, dark brown, nearly 

 black, two irregular white stripes extend backwards over the 

 eye. Head, large; crown, dark brown and grey, tinged with 

 rufous; the bristly feathers of the face are greyish white, 

 interspersed with black near the bill ; the small rounded feathers 

 of the wreath are black in the middle, edged, spotted, and 

 barred with white and rufous ; the grey prevails near the eyes, 

 and brown near the ears ; neck, dingy white, the feathers streaked 

 with rufous brown, the shafts dusky, and zigzag lines or spots 

 at the tips. The feathers of the nape are dark brown in the 

 centre, edged with brownish grey, spotted with brown, and. 

 tinged with rufous; chin, brownish grey; throat and breast, 

 as the neck, the lines on the lower part of the latter are 

 indistinctly crossed; back, as the nape. 



The wings expand to the width of from two feet eight 

 inches to three feet: they do not reach to the middle of the 

 tail; greater and lesser wing coverts, as the back, but more 

 spotted with brown in waving lines, and with some white spots 

 on the greater, forming obscure patches ; primaries, rufous yellow 

 barred with dusky, white at the base; the fourth the longest 

 in the wing, the fifth almost as long; underneath they are 

 dull white, barred with pale brown; secondaries, the same, 

 but the bars are narrower and more distinct; tertiaries, as the 



