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except as stray individuals, that they migrate from their native forests. The range of the Hawk 

 Owl in the north is precisely that of the Siberian Jay — the lower fir-forests at the foot and by 

 the sides of the fells ; but I fancy that the Siberian Jay breeds further south than the Hawk 

 Owl. You never by any chance, however, meet with them out of the fir-forests. 



" The Hawk Owl is by no means shy, and in the breeding-season it is one of the boldest of 

 all birds. Seated on the top of a dead pine, close to the nest where his mate is sitting, the old 

 male bird keeps a constant watch ; and as soon as any one appears to be approaching the nest, 

 he raises his tail and head, after the manner of the Cuckoo, and uttering a shrill cry, not unlike 

 that of the Kestrel Hawk, down he comes full on the head of the intruder ; dashing by with the 

 speed of lightning, he returns to the charge again and again, till he has either cleared the coast 

 or has paid the penalty of his rashness with his life. My lad was really frightened at this bird, 

 and always hated to go up to a nest : and well he might ; for on one occasion when taking the 

 eggs out of a dead pine, without a branch to help him, holding on, as the sailors say, ' by his 

 eyelids,' forty feet from the ground, the old bird made a swoop down on his head, struck off his 

 cap (through the top of which a large slit was cut), and in a moment returned to the charge, 

 tearing off a very fair-sized claw-full of his hair. I was standing below and knocked the old bird 

 over ; and had I not been at the bottom of the tree with my gun the lad might easily have been 

 beaten off his hazardous perch. There is no trouble in shooting the Hawk Owl if you have only 

 a dog in the forest ; for, whatever time of year it may be, as soon as ever the bird spies a dog 

 below him, it always descends to give battle. 



" In flight, manners, and appearance the Hawk Owl is closely allied to the Hawks. It is 

 strictly diurnal in its habits, and to the stealthy quiet flight of the Owl adds the spirit and 

 courage of the Falcon. Hardly a forest bird is safe from the attacks of these Owls. I have seen 

 them strike down the Siberian Jay, their closest neighbour, on the wing; and more than once 

 have I disturbed them feeding on the old Willow-Grouse, a bird half as large again as themselves. 

 Their principal food appears to be birds, lemmings, and woodmice ; but I have often taken insects 

 out of their stomachs. There is little difference in the plumage of the male and female ; but the 

 latter is rather the larger ; and in the breeding-season I have observed that the breast and belly 

 of the female are strongly tinged with reddish brown. The male takes his turn at sitting (as is the 

 case with the Woodpecker) ; for I have shot both as they flew out of the hole from the eggs. The 

 Hawk Owl moults very early, as do many of the northern birds. Like the Siberian Jay, the old 

 birds may be seen in deep moult, without tails, even before the young are flyers ; and in both the 

 autumnal moult is complete as soon as the young birds are full-feathered. The Hawk Owl is 

 then in its best plumage, and its clean, pure, shiny dress at that season is very different from the 

 dingy colouring of spring. 



" The nest is always in a hole in a rotten pine or fir, sometimes at a considerable height 

 from the ground. Morris says the eggs are white (here he is right) ; but he also says the ' nest 

 is built in a tree, and composed of sticks, grass, and feathers ; the eggs, like those of the Owls 

 generally, of the dual number.' Now I know of no European Owl which, as a rule, lays so few 

 as two eggs. The Eagle Owl, in every instance that I have seen, lays three ; and though I never 

 myself took the nest of the Lap Owl (for although it is shot occasionally there, it does not appear 

 to breed in the Quickjock forests), through the kindness of Mr. A. Newton I possess a genuine 



