Oo Ww L. 
indeed it has a fort of tuft or feries of feveral feathers running back- 
wards, and {pringing out of a yellowifh line above each eye, which 
goes over the crown of the head, and thefe tufts the bird ereéts 
moftly in a quiefcent ftate, never much more than a quarter of 
an inch in height, and never fo much as to be perpendicular; when 
alarmed, they are ever deprefied *. 
In one of thefe fhot near me in February 1792, I obferved the 
elongated feathers above mentioned very clearly, and from this am 
perfuaded, that this bird having in his power to erect a fingle feather 
only, has no foundation. 
I think not improper here to remark, that the Tawny Ow! of Mr. 
Pennant, if it has yellow iridest¢, I never met with, and except it 
may hereafter prove the Short-eared Owl, in fome one ftage of its 
life, I know of no fuch bird in England: our brown Wood Owls 
have dark or blueifh irides, and one fex of thefe inclines more to 
reddifh tawny than the other, differing alfo in weight ; therefore till 
convinced to the contrary, I am of opinion that the Tawny Owl 
fhould be erafed- from our calendar, unlefs we allow it to be the 
fame bird with the drowz fpecies f. 
*® Col. Montagu. 
+ Lonce received from my late friend Mr. Pennant, a drawing of what he called 
the Taeway Ow/. but it had yellow irides. 
t “<M. Buffon a fait tres gratuitement deux fpecies de la Hulotte & du Chathuant ; 
 tandis que trés certainement fon Chathuant n’eft que la Hulotte, dans-fon jeune age, 
«* obfervation dont je fuis trés certain, ayant eleve plus de dix nichées de ces oifeaux. 
« On voit que Frifch, a ew grande raifon de regarder 1’un de ces oifeaux comme une 
‘¢ fimple varieté de l’autre, malgré des pretendues caraéteres par lefquels Buffoe pree | 
s¢ tend les diftinguer.”” Levail/. Oifi. p. 164. Note (1-) 
Supp. Ii. I 
$7 
