ORDER ACCIPITRES. 255 



This species builds in caverns and the clefts of old walls ; 

 the nest is made of twigs of dry wood and pliant roots, and 

 furnished within with leaves. It measures nearly three feet in 

 diameter, though the bird lays but two or three grayish white 

 eggs. 



To pass here the several varieties of this species, we shall 

 next notice the common long-eared or horned owl, Strix otus, 

 which, as to its specific character seems to differ little or 

 nothing from the Strlx bubo, except as to size, this being con- 

 siderably the smallest, and is about fourteen inches in length ; 

 the wings from tip to tip measure a little more than three feet. 

 The tufts or ears are said generally to consist of six feathers ; 

 but Lewin and Dr. Latham have observed nine, and M. Tem- 

 minck has mentioned ten. They are blackish brown, yellow 

 on the edges, the eyes have the iris bright yellow, and are 

 surrounded with a circle of whitish feathers, brown at the tips ; 

 the general plumage of the upper part of this species is brown, 

 with different tints of rufous and whitish ; the breast and belly 

 are yellow with longitudinal brown spots, and transverse streaks 

 of dark brown. 



This species, which is rare in France, arrives in Septem- 

 ber and October in this country, and quits us again early in 

 the spring, for the north. M. Temminck states, that she 

 builds on the ground on some eminence, and in the marshes 

 in the high grass. During the day, she remains concealed in 

 the woods, which she quits in the evening to search for mice, 

 small birds, and insects. 



The Scops, or little-eared Owl, (Strix scops, Lin.) is varied 

 all over with gray, reddish-brown, and black ; lighter, as usual, 

 underneath, but the tints of these colours vary considerably. 

 The feet are feathered to the toes with rufous gray feathers, 

 dotted witK brown ; the beak and toes are brown. The crests 

 are composed of six or eight feathers, but Linnaeus has er- 

 roneously stated, that they have each but one. This error of 

 the great Zoologist is in all probability attributable to the bad 



