296 SHORT-EARED OWL. 
This migratory species is a wanderer to the Feroes, and its 
occurrence has been twice authenticated in Iceland; while it is the 
commonest of the Owls visiting Heligoland. From 70° N. lat. to 
the shores of the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas, it is gene- 
rally distributed throughout Europe, breeding in suitable localities 
down to the south of Russia, Italy, Sicily and Malta. In the 
Spanish Peninsula it has not yet been known to nest, though 
abundant there in winter, while in Morocco it meets with an African 
species, Asio capensis (which visits Spain) ; it occurs on the Salvage 
Islands (between Madeira and the Canaries), and is found far south 
in Africa. Its breeding-range extends over Northern Asia to 
Kamchatka ; while in winter the species has been obtained in China 
down to Canton, and in Singapore, as well as in the Sandwich, 
Ladrones and Caroline groups. On the continent and islands of 
America it occurs from Greenland to the Straits of Magellan ; nest- 
ing where suitable food and conditions exist, and following-up 
invasions of small rodents. 
In the fens the nest is a mere hollow formed on the top of a clump 
of sedge or in the side of a mass of mown reeds ; but on the moors the 
eggs are laid among heather; they are usually 6 in number—though 
up to 12 were frequent during the vole-plague—and are rather smooth 
in texture, and creamy-white in colour : measurements 1°6 by 1°25 in. 
They are generally laid early in May, though young may be found 
unable to flyin August. The food consists of rats, field-mice, voles, 
lemmings, and other rodents, birds from the size of a lark to that 
of a plover, and occasionally of bats, fish, reptiles, and large insects. 
This Owl pursues its prey in daylight, and has been known to pick 
up and carry off wounded birds. 
In the adult the plumage of the upper parts is similar to that of 
the preceding species ; but it is more blotched than streaked, the buff 
tint is more pronounced, the facial disk and the rim are browner, and 
the ear-tufts, though erectile, are short and invisible, except when the 
bird is excited ; the under parts are streaked longitudinally with 
blackish-brown, but are not transversely barred or vermiculated ; 
bill black ; operculum semicircular. Length 14°5-15 in.; wing 
about 12 in. ; the female being slightly larger than the male. The 
young bird is browner and darker, with bolder markings, and is 
very tawny on the under parts, while the iris is pale sulphur-yellow, 
instead of the rich yellow found in the adult. Pallid forms of this 
Owl are not uncommon, and specimens from different parts of the 
enormous area inhabited vary considerably in tint. 
