210 Nesting of the Long-eared Owl on the ground at Kidding.


disturbed. As we approached the nest we passed the male bird

standing in his diurnal retreat, the junction of bough and bole

of an adjacent fir tree, whilst the female was on her eggs, sitting

with “ horns ” erect. This habit of sitting with erect horns, if

the erectile ear-tufts may be so termed, is apparently protective,

and the same habit has been observed with the Great Crested

Grebe [cf. ‘Field,’ February 19th, 1910), although the latter bird

does not always assume this attitude when incubating [cf. 0. J. Pike

in ‘Adventures in Bird Land,’ p. 62). The raising of the ear-tufts

by the Great Crested Grebe undoubtedly increases its resemblance

to the reeds; in the same way the Owl’s horns tend to merge the

bird’s head into the surrounding foliage.


The subsequent history of this Owl’s nest has been admirably

described in ‘ British Birds,’ vol. ix, p. 58, by Miss E. L. Turner,

who was able to secure some beautiful photographs of the incu¬

bating Owl, showing the half-closed eyes and erect ear-tufts. From

time to time food was found in the nest by Miss Turner, namely,

short-tailed field mice, some very young water voles, chaffinches,

a blackbird, and the tail of a swallow. Thrush’s feathers were also

observed lying about.


According to my limited experience these Owls are beneficial

rather than harmful. A couple of nests, which hatched out some

years ago near Cromer, were found to contain a missel thrush, a

song thrush, three young rats and a mouse, and, when inspected

on another occasion, four young thrushes, a rat and a small rabbit ;

no game. On another occasion a well-used roosting-place was

visited, where as many as six Long-eared Owls could be seen

dozing in the day-time, and, after due search, thirty-eight pellets

were collected. This was in January, in a wood near the sea, at

Trimingham, where all Owls are protected. Nearly all these pellets

contained mouse-remains, in addition to the fragments of two

beetles, probably the large dung-beetle, and four skulls or beaks

of finches.


Gamekeepers vilify these beautiful birds on insufficient

evidence, and thus make an excuse to destroy them. Only this

year it came to the writer’s notice that a Long-eared Owl had been

shot (on June 11th, 1915), after being accused of molesting chickens.



