THE LONG-EARED OWL. 87 



its nests ; which, in consequence of the trees being young, were 

 placed not higher than six feet from the ground. Two nests in 

 Hillsborough Park, in the summer of 1848, were placed about 

 twenty feet from the ground in dense silver firs of double that 

 height. One of them, which was robbed about the 10th of June, 

 coutained tliree young (perhaps twelve days out) and an addled egg. 

 The other nest at the same date contained four eggs. The first 

 garb of the owlets is white down, but like that of the kestrel, 

 when viewed en masse, of a light sandy-coloured tinge; their 

 irides are yellow, of a lighter tint than in old birds. Their 

 larder consisted at the early hour of five o'clock in the morning, 

 when they were carried off, of three old sparrows, two of which 

 were males. About Youghal, it builds "in ruined magpie's 

 nests." * Mr. Poole mentions, that to a deserted magpie's nest 

 which came under his notice, when appropriated by a pair of these 

 owls, no addition was made, excepting a few soft feathers from 

 the owl itself. The nest contained eggs on the 14th of March, 

 and beside them lay a dead field-mouse. Another nest, examined 

 by him, contained four owlets, two of which were so much 

 larger then the others, as scarcely to appear to belong to 

 the same brood. There were no castings under the tree in 

 which this brood was brought up. The long-eared owl is com- 

 mon in Tipperary f and Kerry ; J and is noticed as inhabiting 

 chiefly fir plantations, in the former county. With respect to 

 food, the stomachs of three winch I have noted, contained : — 

 One, a sparrow almost whole ; the second, portions of a large 

 coleopterous insect; the third, the remains of three buntings. 

 The stomach of a long-eared owl, shot at Killaloe, contained " part 

 of a rat, the skull of a mouse, and the heads of two sparrows." 



Dr. J. D. Marshall, of Belfast, informs me, that for five or six 

 years, when he lived in High-street, opposite St. George's Church, 

 he kept long and short-eared owls (S. otus and S. hrachyotus) 

 instead of cats, and found them to be much more effective killers 

 of rats and mice. Their patience was extraordinary. At the 

 entrance to one rat -hole, which happened frequently to come under 



* Mr. R. Ball. f Mr. R. Davis. % Mr. Neligan. 



