•64 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



with feathers and down ; sometimes the old dre}' of a squirrel is chosen. The 

 eggs are white, slightly gloss}', and are elliptical in shape, and of aboiit the 

 same size as those of the Barn-Owl, and are usviall}' four in number, but as 

 man}- as seven have been met with, and, as in the case of the Barn-Owl, 

 both young birds and eggs are found in the same nest. The nestlings are 

 at first covered with light yellowish-grey down, barred with faint brown, and 

 have two conspicuous tufts in their head even at this early stage. When they 

 are fully fledged the}- sit out side by side together upon a branch, and form 

 a pretty sight. The family may keep together longer than the young of other 

 Owls are permitted to associate with the parents, for the writer once in the 

 autumn met with a keeper who having just seen a single Long-eared Owl 

 perched upon the top of a bank fired at it, and found that he had killed five 

 of these Owls that had been all squatting ver}' closely together. He had all 

 five birds with him, and the writer selected two of them that were in very 

 fine plumage to skin for his collection. 



The flight of the Long-eared Owl is very light and buoyant, owing to 

 its long wings, which extend beyond the tail when closed, and it seems to 

 resemble the Harriers more than any other of the Owls. It is dispersed all 

 over Europe, except in the extreme north, and is also found throughout Central 

 Asia, and is a winter visitor to the North of Africa. It is represented in 

 America b}^ a closely allied sub-species, Otus Wilsonianus, which appears to be 

 sociable at the nesting season. Dr. Coues speaks of a thicket of pines which 

 in the dreary winter months was a great place of rendezvous of the American 

 Long-eared Owl, and where, in the spring-time, the females deposited their eggs 

 in rude and unsightly nests of their own construction. The numbers were 

 prodigious, so that there were very few of the trees, if any, without two or more 

 nests. " The man}' fragments of the bones of mammals and birds, and the other 

 remains of the same that laid in piles upon the ground, bore testimou}' to the 

 wholesale destruction of life that was carried on." The cry of the Long-eared 

 Owl is said by Dresser to be a deep hoot, others state that it utters a note like 

 the barking of a spaniel, while the young birds make a noise somewhat similar 

 to the mewing of a young kitten that may be heard at a great distance. The 

 writer is disposed to doubt this Owl's ever hooting ; a long cat-like wail, or 

 scream, proceeding from his fir plantations at night was b}' him believed to be 

 the cr}' of Asio otus. 



The plumage of the Long- eared Owl is full and soft, and is very elegant in 

 its coloration. Upon the head are two tufts of about seven dark brown feathers 

 edged with yellow that project about one-and-a-half inch ; the upper parts are 



