The Short-Eakhd Owl. f>s 



light reddisli yellow prettily speckled ruid streaked willi l^lnck, asli-coloiir, and 

 Avhite; the wings and tail are barred witli black and grey; tlic tail is also 

 speckled over with dusky and grey ; facial disk pale yellowisli-brown ; ruff white 

 at the base and tipped with black ; under parts buff coloured, the feathers with a 

 central black shaft, and slightly undulated with black; legs and toes covered with 

 pale ochreous down. Beak and claws dark Iiorn colour ; irides orange yellow. 

 The female is somewhat darker and larger tlian tlie male. In size the Long- 

 eared Owl approximates to the Barn Owl, measuring from twelve to fourteen 

 inches, according to sex. 



Fami/v—S rRIGID.^. 



Short-Eared Owl. 



Asia (urlfiit rill Its, Pall. 



IF the preceding species belongs exclusively to the wood-frequenting Owls that 

 are only at home among the branches of trees with dense foliage, the Owl 

 now to be treated of ma}' be called a ground Owl, as it rarel}-, if ever, perches 

 on trees, but inhabits moors and marshes, where it squats during the da}-, resting 

 on the full length of its tarsi, among the tumps of coarse grass and rush. 

 Although one of our resident species, it is chieflv confined to the northern parts 

 of the Kingdom, and it is only in the autumn and wiuter that it is dispersed 

 over the whole of our islands, when numbers cross into this countr}- from the 

 Continent, and, arriving at the same time as the Woodcock does, this Owl often 

 goes by the name of the Woodcock Owl. It is commonly flushed by Snipe 

 shooters in the winter, getting up at their feet out of any cover provided by the 

 herbage, and is also frequenth' met with in turnip fields in October and 

 November, and as setters will own and draw on the scent of these birds the 



