SHORT EARED OWL. 57 



shire, Renfrewshire, and Argyleshire woods it is also well known ; 

 still as a rule it is more a bird of the eastern counties than of 

 the western. Mr Alston states that it is common in the Upper 

 Ward of Lanarkshire; and in Stirlingshire it is said by Mr 

 Brown to be one of the commonest species. Yet judging by the 

 numbers sent to the city bird-stuffers, it is seldom met with, com- 

 pared with other species. 



This bird, like the white or barn owl, continues laying and 

 hatching at the same time. Writing from Aberdeenshire, Mr 

 Angus informs me that he has found both it and the tawny owl 

 commencing to sit as soon as the first egg was laid. " I once," 

 says Mr Angus, " put a tawny owl off its nest three times within 

 an hour: it contained but two eggs. Three days afterwards a lad 

 took four eggs from the nest. I robbed a nest of the Long eared 

 Owl which contained four half-fledged birds and five eggs, most 

 of which were remarkably dirty. Three had been some days sat 

 upon, and two of them were so far advanced that they could 

 hardly be blown." 



This species, which is partial to fir plantations, appears to be 

 not uncommon in some of the wooded districts of Ross shire. In 

 Orkney it has occurred in at least two instances; one of which is 

 mentioned in Messrs Baikie and Heddle's work, and the other, as 

 stated in a manuscript note, was obtained at Kirkwall in 1851. 



THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 



OTUS BRACHYOTOS. 



RESIDENT all the year in the West of Scotland, north of Ayrshire. 

 I have seen it hawking for prey in dull weather at mid-day over 

 turnip fields, looking probably for field-mice, which in the autumn 

 months become rather numerous in some places. This Owl, in- 

 deed, may be looked upon as a useful friend to the farmer in the 

 localities it frequents. In some turnip fields on the east coast, 

 where it likewise breeds in some numbers, I have seen as many as 

 eight or ten birds lodged within the compass of a few acres ; and 

 I have also seen them in early morning frequenting the rocky parts 

 of the coast near Dunbar, in East Lothian. I have frequently 

 put up Short-eared Owls from such situations; but whether they 

 had gone there for the purpose of preying upon rats and the 



