64 WHITE AND LONG-EARED OWLS. 



ORDER STRIGES. 



Family STRIGID^E. 



WHITE OR BAKN OWL (Strixflammea). 



Resident ; generally distributed throughout England, Wales, 

 and Ireland, but rare in Scotland. 



Haunts. Ruins, church-towers, barns, &c. 



Plumage. Upper parts tawny yellow, speckled with grey, 

 white, and blackish. Face (heart-shaped) and under parts 

 white. Bill white. Legs covered with white hair-like feathers. 

 Length 14 in. Like all Owls, it is grotesque and comical in 

 appearance. Female larger and darker above. Young covered 

 with white down ; at a later stage they are similar to, though 

 rather darker than, the adults. 



Language. A loud weird shriek, resembling "keck." The 

 young make a snoring sound, and snap their beaks. 



Habits. The large eye is always a sign of a nocturnal bird, 

 and this Owl is strictly so, sleeping away the day in the um- 

 brageous shelter of some dark place, and sallying forth on 

 noiseless wing at sundown to prey on small mammals, &c. 

 Like other Owls, it casts off the indigestible portions of its food 

 in pellets. Flight buoyant, noiseless, and rapid. It is a most 

 useful bird, and should be protected and not persecuted. 



Food. Mice, rats, voles, and moles ; also small birds, and 

 insects, and occasionally fish. 



Nest. April onwards. Two broods. 



Site. In hole in a tree, in church-tower, ruins, barns, and 

 similar places. 



Materials. None. 



Eggs. Three to six. White, unglossy, and almost spherical 

 in shape. Like other Owls it has a curious habit of laying two 

 or three eggs, and then after incubation has begun it lays 

 another batch, and perhaps another, so that one may find 

 young and more or less incubated eggs in the same nest. 



LONG-EARED OWL (Asio otus). 



Partially migrant. Fairly well distributed in England ; 

 common in the pine woods of Scotland, and in Ireland. 



Haunts. Woodland districts. 



Observation. Distinguish from Tawny Owl by " long ears." 



Plumage. Two tufts of feathers on the head (hence Long- 

 eared). Upper parts buffish, speckled and vermiculated with 

 dark brown, ashy, and white. Facial disk yellowish brown 

 with blackish margin. Wings and tail barred with black and 

 grey ; under parts buff streaked with black. Bill blackish. 



