<5I 



LONG-EARED OWL. 



ASIO OTUS {Linn.). 



Strix otus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 133 (1766); Naum. i. p. 451. 

 Asio otus, Macg. iii. p. 453 ; Yarr. ed. 4, i. p. 158 ; Dresser, 



V. p. 251. 

 Otus vulgaris, Hewitson, i. p. 55. 



Hibou vulgaire, French; Ohr-Eule, German; Carabo, 

 JBu/io, Spanish. 



This handsome Owl is tolerably abundant, though 

 extremely local, throughout the United Kingdom, but 

 prefers, so far as my own experience goes, thick planta- 

 tions of coniferous trees to any other localities. In 

 West Norfolk and Suffolk the Long-eared Owl would 

 be, if unmolested, exceedingly common ; I have fre- 

 quently seen from ten to a dozen of these birds in the 

 course of a day's shooting in those districts, but I grieve 

 to add that on one occasion prominently in my memory, 

 several members of our party, not imbued with that love 

 for Owls that inspires me, were guilty of the blood of 

 these very beautiful birds. The eggs of this species, 

 generally four or five in number, are usually laid early 

 in March in an old nest of Crow, Magpie, AVood-Pigeon, 



