THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 89 



of Norfolk. But as to its breeding in Ireland, — which from the 

 nature of the country, we should certainly expect, — no informa- 

 tion can be given. Sportsmen and gamekeepers, whom I have 

 questioned on the subject, know the bird only as a winter visitant. 

 One friend, who for about forty years shot over the mountains of 

 several of our northern counties, and in no instance was a day 

 after the legal one (20th of August in Ireland) in commencing 

 grouse-shooting, — always, too, having exercised his dogs prepara- 

 tory to the sport, for some time previously, — never met with it at 

 that season ; nor at any other than when woodcocks are to be 

 found. The short-eared owl is then well known to him as fre- 

 quenting the mountain heaths. He has never observed it on 

 wing, except when sprung, nor seen it pursue prey by day. It 

 has, however, been observed to do so in Scotland.' 35 ' 



To the neighbourhood of Belfast, — Down and Antrim, — this 

 owl generally comes in the month of October ; but so early as 

 the 5th of September, 1839, one was shot in a potato field bor- 

 dering the bay, within a mile of the town. It remains from this 

 time until spring. The latest noted here was killed on the 3rd of 

 April, 1837 ; for a long time before that period, there was a pre- 

 valence of north-easterly winds, which, had the bird been disposed 

 for migration, might have retarded its movements. The species 

 is generally found in marshy ground frequented by snipes. When 

 snipe-shooting around Belfast, a few of these owls have fallen to 

 my gun, in boggy spots of very limited extent. The first of them 

 that did so, being only winged, afforded me an opportunity of 

 observing the exceeding "depth" and brilliancy of its large 

 golden eyes, to utterly extinguish the light of which, — such is the 

 effect of beauty, — it must be confessed, pained me much. To the 

 counties of Londonderry and Donegal this owl resorts, in the 

 latter of which it was not observed by Mr. J. V. Stewart until 

 after the publication of Ms catalogue. Southward, it is met with 



of Hesleyside, has frequently found their eggs among the heath in his own neigh- 

 bourhood. Mr. R. R. Wingate has also met with the young ones on the same moors 

 before they were able to fly." — Hewitson, Eggs Brit. Birds, p. 36. 



* See St. John's Sketches of the Wild Sports of the Highlands, p. 64. 



