STRIGIDE. 295 
THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 
ASIO ACCIPITRINUS (Pallas). 
Unlike the preceding arboreal species, the Short-eared Owl is an 
inhabitant of the open country, especially upland moors, fens, heather 
or furze-covered hillsides, and more or less damp places ; while in 
the latter part of the year it is often met with in turnip-fields and 
stubbles. Owing to the fact that large numbers arrive regularly from 
the Continent in autumn, and remain for the winter, this bird is 
frequently flushed by sportsmen, and is often called the Wood- 
cock-Owl, from the coincidence of the time of its appearance, and, 
perhaps, from its twisting flight; in some years it is much more 
plentiful than in others. Normally, it may be said that a few pairs 
nest in the south-west of England, as well as in Wales, while, in 
spite of drainage, some breed in East Anglia, and more freely on 
the moorlands northward. At long intervals, however, coincidently 
with irruptions of field-voles, Short-eared Owls flock to the infested 
spots, where they remain as long as food continues plentiful. This 
was notable during the plague of short-tailed voles in the south- 
west of Scotland in 1890-1891, when a wonderful increase was 
noticed, not only in the breeding birds, estimated at four hundred 
pairs, but also in the abnormal number of eggs laid. Under ordinary 
conditions the species nests in the Inner and Outer Hebrides, as 
well as in the Orkneys, and sometimes the Shetlands. In Ireland 
the Short-eared Owl has not yet been recorded as breeding, but it 
is as common there in winter as it is in the rest of the United 
Kingdom. 
