WOOD-OWLS. 147 



the genus, its total length being about 15 inches. The colour of the face-disc is 

 greyish white, margined with brown ; the crown of the head, neck, back, and wings, 

 are a mixture of ashy grey mottled with shades of brown ; the primary quills are 

 barred with dull white and brown ; and the tail-feathers, with the exception of the 

 middle pair, are also barred with the latter colour. On the under-parts the ground- 

 colour is greyish white, upon which there are longitudinal streaks and mottlings of 

 brown, without any trace of transverse bars. The tawny owl is still common in 

 Britain, although rare in Scotland, most English woods having a pair of these 

 birds. From Britain their range extends over Europe as far as 67° north 

 latitude, and eastwards to the Urals ; while it also embraces North Africa, 

 Syria, and Turkestan. This owl is essentially nocturnal, seldom stirring from 

 its sylvan resting-place during the daytime, and if driven forth being more 

 completely dazed than any other British species. It is this species which is 

 generally mobbed by a crowd of small birds, such as tits, finches, and 

 warblers, when seen abroad by day. Oak and beech-woods, where hollow trunks 

 are numerous, are the favourite haunts of the tawny owl ; although occasionally 

 the choice falls on ruins or towers. In addition to voles, shrews, rats, and mice, its 

 food includes an occasional young hare or rabbit, and sometimes frogs, fish, and 

 beetles. It is an early breeder, laying its three or four eggs in March, or even 

 earlier. These are usually deposited in a hollow tree, but sometimes in ruins or 

 old chimneys, or even in a deserted rabbit-hole, or on the bare ground ; while 

 occasionally an old rook's nest is selected. The clear hooting cry, like the words 

 tu-whit, to-who, is uttered at morning and evening ; while the laughter-like cry 

 appears to be peculiar to the breeding-season. The young owls are fed by the 

 parents for a considerable time after leaving the nest, and are reported to be more 

 easily reared in captivity than are those of any other species. 



The great grey owl (S. cinereum) of Arctic America, and the 

 Great Grey OwL » » •/ \ / ' 



closely allied Lapp owl {S. lapponiciim) of Northern Europe and 



Asia, are much larger birds than the tawny owl, and are easily recognised by the 



grey face-disc being marked by a number of fine concentric brown lines. The 



great grey owl has the plumage darker, with less distinct streaks on the breast, than 



its European cousin ; but Captain Bendire regards the two as merely varieties of a 



single species. The great grey owl ranges from the shores of Hudson Bay to the 



limits of forest in about latitude 68°, but in winter it migrates southwards even 



beyond the Canadian border into the Northern United States. The Lapp owl, 



which is one of the rarest of the European species, is confined to the boreal districts, 



in the upper part of the forest-belt, occasionally straying to North Central Europe. 



It is distributed over Northern Scandinavia, Finland, and North Russia. The 



total length of the grey owl may be as much as 30 inches. The Lapp owl nests 



on the summits or forked branches of broken firs, in the former case making 



little or no nest, but in the latter erecting a large structure of twigs. The 



number of eggs in a clutch is probably from two to four. Writing of the 



great grey owl, Captain Bendire observes that " from the limited information we 



possess about the nesting-habits of this species it appears that in Alaska these 



birds nest sometimes as early as April, and in the interior as late as June. From 



two to four eggs seem to be laid to a set, and these are small for the size of the 



