110 BRITISH BIRDS. 



under parts white ; bill whitish ; iris nearly black ; feet 

 clothed with white downy feathers ; claws pale brown. 

 Length 13-25. Female: length nearly 14-00. In a dark 

 phase not uncommon in the east and south of England, 

 particularly in autumn, the orange tint of upper parts 

 is largely obscured by a smoke-grey hue and under 

 parts are suffused with buffi sh -yellow, and marked with 

 a number of the small dusky-grey spots sometimes 

 noticed in normal examples. 



Resident, and widely but sparingly distributed. Resorts 

 chiefly to hollow trees, old barns, church towers and ruins. 

 Eggs are usually found upon a quantity of the birds' 

 ejected pellets ; from 4 to 6 or more are laid at intervals, 

 the first being much incubated before last are laid ; shape 

 oval, of a dull surface, and white; size i'6o by 1*25. 

 Young are fed almost entirely on mice. 



Family, Asionidee. 



GENUS LXXVI ASIO, Brisson (1760). 

 Bill with upper mandible decurved from its base ; 

 head furnished with an erectile tuft of feathers on either 

 side ; toes clothed with short downy feathers. 



150. Asio otus (Linn.). LONG-EARED OWL. 



Hab. Palaearctic region, except extreme north. 



Male : above yellowish-buff (darker on wings and 

 rump) mottled and pencilled with brown and grey, and 

 longitudinally streaked with brownish-black ; tail rufous 

 with dusky markings and bars ; long ear-tufts black in 

 centre, with pale edges ; facial discs v dusky round eyes, 

 rest pale buff with a dusky rim ; below greyish mottled 

 with pale brown, with longitudinal streaks and fine 

 transverse bars of blackish-brown ; bill and claws nearly 



