134 URAL OWL. 
Lapland. It is included in the Danish fauna, but I think on very 
doubtful authority. My description (see specific characters) is from a 
fresh killed specimen, a thing very few naturalists have had the op- 
portunity of observing. Eye dark (appeared bluish black), not as 
generally depicted bright yellow. Of its breeding habits (at least in 
Scandinavia) nothing is known, and I do not believe any collection 
contains a well authenticated egg of this bird." 
M. Schinz, who saw the bird alive said by Meisner to have been 
found in the cantons of Berne and the Soleure, is of opinion that it 
was only a variety of Strix aluco, the Tawny Owl of the British list. 
The Ural Owl preys principally upon birds and small animals, 
which towards the close of day it may be seen looking out for, 
among the wild forests of the desolate regions in which it lives. It 
builds its nest in the holes of trees, and lays four or five eggs, 
which are like the rest of the genus, obtuse, and of a pure glossy 
white. 
The Ural Owl was first discovered by Pallas, in his "Journey into 
Russia in 1776," and is described by Lamarck in the Appendix to 
the French edition of the "Voyage," page 29. Dr. Latham has the 
following description of this bird in his "Synopsis," vol. i., page 168, 
sp. 37, in which he has closely followed Pallas: — Bill colour of wax; 
eyelids and irides black; feathers surrounding the eyes cinereous, 
encircled with black and white feathers, and reaching quite from the 
forehead to the throat; colour of the upper part of the body not 
unlike that of Strix aluco, but paler, and with scarce any undulations 
on the feathers; the parts beneath, except a few slender lines, are 
quite white; rump white; the outer edge of the three outer quills 
serrated the whole of their length; fourth and fifth serrated likewise, 
but only at the ends; first quill shortest; tail cuneiform, and longer 
in proportion than in S. aluco; legs covered with dirty white down. 
Young birds of the year, according to Temminck, have the ground 
plumage light grey brown, with the upper parts spotted irregularly 
with ashy brown and light red, vai-ied by white ovoid spots; the 
under parts marked with spots and longitudinal stripes of ashy brown; 
wings streaked transversely with grey; tail with seven transverse bands 
of a whitish ash-colour. 
According to Middendorf, Siberian specimens are darker and more 
distinct in colour, and smaller in size than the European. 
The Japan bird, Strix fuscescens , is a distinct species, and Mr. 
Gurney writes me "it is a remarkable link between S. Uralense and 
S. aluco" 
