144 STRIGID.E. 



he saw an Eagle-Owl fly round a hill where he had seen a pair 

 twenty years before ; climbing up he discovered the nest, which 

 was merely a basin-shaped hollow in the dry sand under an over- 

 hanging crag: round the nest was a great mass of bones and 

 castings, and half a rabbit, a water-vole, and part of a peewit 

 not a common bird in those parts in April. The nest, which 

 contained one young bird and an addled egg, was well concealed 

 in the thick tall heather and most difficult to find. There was 

 a second disused nesting-place within twenty yards. 



The Eev. John White mentions the Eagle-Owl as occurring at 

 Gibraltar during his residence there about 1776. 



Facial disk incomplete above eyes ; tufts very large; no operculurn. 



General colour above blackish, mottled with tawny yellow. Toes so 

 thickly feathered that the last joint is hidden. Iris orange-yellow. Length 

 26-27 inches. 



173. Carine noctua (Scopoli). Little Owl. 



Moorish. Mouka, Moueka, Bouma. Spanish. Mochuelo. 



" Is the commonest species of Owl near Tangier, being both 

 resident and migratory. Those which migrate pass to Europe 

 during March and April, returning in August and September. 

 During passage they are met with in pairs or small flights ; at all 

 other times they are found singly or in pairs among large rocks 

 and old buildings." Favier. 



The above was written by Favier under the head of Athene 

 ylaux, or, as he had it, " Strix noctua meridionalis" ; but as that 

 species has not yet been noticed in Andalucia, and as C. noctua 

 is the Little Owl of Tangier, I have no hesitation in referring 

 the above notes to that bird not that it would have been much 

 loss to have omitted them altogether, the only information of 

 importance being that they migrate. 



Near and at Gibraltar this Little Owl is common and resident, 

 nesting, about the end of April, in holes of trees as well as in 

 rocks. 



