86 STRIGIDiE. 



proved similar to a Strix Scops in his collection. Mr. Joseph 

 Poole, of Killiane, Wexford, wrote to me on the 19th of April, 

 1847, that a scops-eared owl, which had come under his notice, 

 was killed a few days before that date, near Kilmore, in the south 

 of the county. 



In the month of August, 1826, I met with a bird of this 

 species, perched in what had been a window, among the ruins of 

 Otricoli, near Eome. It admitted of a close approach, and looked 

 most contentedly at home. When proceeding from Malta to 

 the Morea, in H.M.S. Beacon, on the 25th of April, 1841, and 

 135 miles eastward of Etna, and less than half that distance from 

 Calabria (the nearest land), a scops-eared owl, on its northward 

 flight, came on board. It was struck down and captured, just as 

 it had clutched a lesser whitethroat (Sylvia curruca). 



The little Owl (Strix passerina, Temm.), which has occasionally 

 been obtained in England, cannot yet be included with certainty in the 

 Irish catalogue ; — nor can it in that of Scotland. On the 22nd of 

 April, 1841, one of these owls flew on board H.M.S. Beacon, when 

 forty miles east of Malta, and remained for a short time. Others were 

 seen during the next few days, as we sailed towards the Morea. Early 

 in June one was shot at Paros ; and I saw another near Naussa. 



THE LONG-EABED OWL. 



Otus vulgaris, Elein. 

 Strix otus, Linn. 



Commonly inhabits old wooded districts in all parts of 

 the island. 



In addition to such places, I have known this species to be shot 

 during the dusk of the evening, at low water in Belfast bay, a mile 

 distant from the land, by a person waiting (in a barrel sunk in the 

 ooze) for the flying of wigeon. The white owl has, in several 

 instances, been similarly obtained. 



An individual to whom the long-eared owl is well known, in- 

 forms me, that in a close plantation of spruce firs ( Abies com- 

 munis,) at Scoutbush, near Carrickfergus, he for several years had 



