166 STRIGID.E. 



eggs, may, though not generally credited, be true after all. 

 Another singular statement with regard to this Owl is one 

 made to Mr. Gurney, by the late M. Favier of Tangiers 

 (Ibis, 1862, p. 27), to the effect that in the neighbourhood 

 of that place it sometimes pairs and breeds with a very 

 distinct species, the Otus capensis of Sir Andrew Smith 

 the hybrids presenting an appearance intermediate between 

 the two, even to the colour of the irides. 



The Short-eared Owl is well known in most if not all of the 

 counties of Great Britain, and is a regular winter- visitant to 

 Ireland. It seems to have occurred in Iceland, and at one 

 season or another inhabits the whole continent of Europe and 

 the greater part of Asia, reaching to Japan. In China it 

 has been obtained as far south as Canton, and is by no 

 means uncommon in Assam and British Burma. Mr. Gurney 

 has received it from Singapore. As a winter- visitant it is 

 said to be distributed by myriads over the plains of India, 

 but does not seem to extend to Ceylon. Further westward 

 it can be traced through Bochara and Mesopotamia and, 

 though not abundant, occurs in Palestine. It is a winter- 

 visitant in Egypt, sometimes appearing singly and some- 

 times in large companies, going as far south as Abyssinia. 

 In the same character also it occurs in the islands of the 

 Mediterranean and in Algeria, and it is found in Morocco. 

 The Zoological Society has received a living example from 

 Natal. 



In the New World it occurs in Greenland though, according 

 to Professor Reinhardt, a scarce bird there. It is a summer 

 visitor to Newfoundland and to the Fur- Countries of North 

 America, arriving as soon as the snow disappears and 

 departing in September at the close of the breeding-season, 

 when it is spread over the greater part of the continent, 

 occurring in Guatemala and, according to Senor Lembeye, 

 in the island of Cuba. In South America it is also found 

 in the basin of the Rio de la Plata and thence to the Straits 

 of Magellan. According to Mr. W. H. Hudson (Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1870, p. 800), it is generally distributed over and breeds 

 on the pampas near Buenos Ayres, where, owing to the 



