15° 



OWLS. 



brown wood-owl, which is uniform chocolate-brown above, becoming darker on 

 the head, attains a length of 28 inches ; it is replaced in the Himalaya by the 

 rather smaller Nipal brown wood-owl {S. neivarense). 



Although several groups of owls are furnished with the tufts of 

 feathers, commonly denominated ears, it will be convenient to restrict 

 the title of eared owls to the members of the genus Asio, which includes the common 



Eared Owls. 



SHORT-EARED OWL (^ nat size). 



long and short-eared owls of Britain. While agreeing with those of the two 

 preceding genera in the structure of their ears and the form of the facial disc, the 

 owls of this genus are readily distinguished by the presence of longer or shorter 

 ear-tufts, and also by the cere being of much greater length. In all of them the 

 lower mandible is notched, the tube of the ear very large, the wings long, usually 

 with the second quill the longest, and the legs and toes are generally more or less 

 feathered to the claws. They are all purely nocturnal birds, seldom or never 

 hunting by day, and not leaving their roosts till evening. They may frequent 

 either woods or open country, and nest either in trees or on the ground. Their 

 flight is very silent, and their cry a loud hoot. The species are few. 



