SYRNIUM ALUCO. 141 



killed. On the 10th of November following, during my second 

 visit, I saw three more, two of which I winged and also carried 

 off alive to Gibraltar, keeping them there for some time, till one 

 got out and flew off as if nothing was the matter with it ; so I 

 sent the other at once to Lord Lilford, who had it alive till 1870. 

 I met with no more till the 10th of November, 1870, when I 

 shot one and picked up the remains of another. In October and 

 November 1871 I repeatedly and carefully went over the same 

 ground, but did not see any, while friends of mine there in 

 August and September, whom I begged to look out for these 

 Owls, did not come across one. All the eight birds above 

 mentioned were found within a space of about a square mile ; 

 and, strange to say, I never saw any elsewhere. In December 

 1873, Capt. Savile Reid, of the Royal Engineers, shot one when 

 snipe-shooting in the same locality. I was there in March and 

 May in 1874, and, though I hunted all the likely ground over, 

 failed to meet with even one ; but they have since been obtained 

 there, notably in the winters of 1882-83 and 1893-94. 



General colour above earthy brown, indistinctly vermiculated with 

 rufous. Ear-tufts barely visible. Iris bluish black. Length 13-14 inches. 



170. Syrnium aluco (Linnseus). The Tawny, Wood, or Brown 

 Owl. 



Moorish. Lu Lual, Bu-ru-ru, Spanish. Carabo. 



" This species is the scarcest of the Owls near Tangier, being 

 met with on passage, crossing to Europe in February, returning 

 in November and December. Some remain to nest in April, 

 laying two eggs, of which often only one is hatched. They live 

 in large thick woods." Favier. 



Mr. Meade-Waldo says the Tawny Owls which he saw in 

 Morocco were very grey birds and very large ; all specimens 

 which I saw from that country were of the grey race. The 

 Arabic name Bu-ru-ru is delightfully suggestive of their cry. 



I never met with or heard one in Andalucia, and it is not 



