160 BRITISH BIRDS. 



STRIX OTUS. 

 LONG-EARED OWL. 



(PLATE 7.) 



Asio asio, Briss. Orn. i. p. 486 (1760). 



Strix otus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 132 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum Vieillot, 



Naumann, Temminck, Schleyel, Sundevall, (Newton), &c. 

 Bubo minor, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Diy. i. p. 85, pi. Ixxxii. (1767). 

 Bubo vulgaris, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Die/, i. p. 85, pi. Ixxxii. (1767). 

 Bubo otus (Linn.), Sav. Syst. Ois. de Eyy2)te, p. 49 (1810). 

 Otus asio (riss.), Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. fyc. Brit. Mus. p. 11 (1816). 

 Otus otus (Linn.), Cuv. ffigne An. i. p. 328 (1817). 

 Otus europeeus, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 57 (1826). 

 Otus vulgaris (Gerini), Fleming, Brit. An. p. 56 (1828). 

 Asio otus (Linn.}, Less. Man. cCOm. i. p. 116 (1828). 

 Otus communis, Less. Traite, p. 110 (1831). 

 Otus aurita, Eenn. ed. Mont. Orn. Diet. p. 262 (1833). 

 Aegolius otus (Linn.), Keys, fy Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. 143 (1840). 

 Otus verus, Finsch, Journ. Orn. 1859, p. 381. 



The Long-eared Owl is generally distributed throughout the British 

 Islands, being most common in those districts which abound in pine- 

 forests. It has not been met with in Greenland, but is an accidental 

 visitor to Iceland and the Orkney and Shetland Isles. It is not found 

 in the Outer Hebrides, but breeds in Mull and Skye. It is distributed 

 throughout the Palsearctic Region, and the Himalayas as far east as the 

 shores of the sea of Ochotsk and Japan, but becomes extremely rare towards 

 the arctic circle. It has been recorded from the Azores, the Madeiras, and 

 the Canary Islands. It is a partial migrant ; and on the east coast both of 

 England and Scotland its numbers are increased by autumn arrivals from 

 Scandinavia. In South Europe and North Africa it is principally a winter 

 visitant, in Spain breeding only on the mountains, doubtfully recorded 

 during the breeding-season from Algiers and Egypt, and hitherto observed 

 only during passage or in winter in Greece. In Palestine and Asia Minor 

 it probably breeds on the mountains and highlands, descending to the plains 

 during winter only. In Turkestan it is found principally on migration, 

 and winters in Persia and Afghanistan. The Himalayan birds winter in 

 the plains of North India. In the valley of the Amoor, Japan, and in 

 North China it is apparently a winter visitor. In the Nearctic Region it 

 is represented by <S. americanus, a species which approaches so near to 

 the European one that only a practised eye can detect the difference. 



The American bird has the upper parts more uniform in colour, the 



