STEIGID.E. 35 



Family STRIGID.E. 



I now come to the last branch of the Raptorial 

 Order, the Strigidse, or Owls. Of these I have not 

 been able to include so large a per-centage amongst 

 the Somersetshire birds as I have of the Falconidse, 

 being only able to include four out of the eleven 

 species at present recognized as British. 



LONGEARED OWL, Otus vulgaris. The Longeared 

 Owl is said to be not uncommon in the wilder parts 

 of the county ; indeed, in the West, it is said to be 

 much more common than the shorteared species, 

 next to be noticed : this, however, does not accord 

 with my own experience, or with the relative num- 

 bers of the two species that are occasionally to be 

 seen at the birdstuffers' shops at Taunton. The last 

 of the present species that I have seen was brought 

 into Mrs. Turle's on the 5th of November, 1864 : it 

 had been killed near Combe Sydenham. 



The Longeared Owl is resident with us all the 

 year, but in consequence of its retired and nocturnal 

 habits is seldom seen. 



On the subject of food, I shall have, for the first 

 time, to quote a paper which appeared in the ' Zoolo- 

 gist' for the year 1863 (p. 8760), on the "Food of 

 Small Birds," which gives a notice of the contents 

 of the stomachs of eighteen different species of birds 



