STRIGIDA. 207 
THE TAWNY OWL. 
SYRNIUM ALUco (Linnzus). 
The Tawny, Brown, or Wood-Owl familiarly called “the Hooter,” 
is tolerably abundant in England and Wales, wherever there are 
woods or crags suited to its habits ; it is in fact commoner in some 
places than the White or Barn-Owl, though decreasing in others. 
In the south of Scotland it is well-known, while it is quite the most 
numerous Owl in the Moray basin, and has extended its range on 
the mainland to Caithness and Sutherland ; in the west, it occurs in 
Skye and several of the Inner Hebrides. In Ireland its presence 
has not yet been authenticated. 
From the Feroes this exceptionally migratory species was recorded 
in January and again in March, 1871: on the latter occasion in 
company with some Long-Eared Owls. In Norway it is numerous 
up to the Trondhjemsfjord, above which it becomes rare ; but in 
Sweden its northern range is less extensive, though the bird is com- 
mon in the southern parts of that country. In Heligoland it has 
only once occurred in half a century. Below 60°-61° N. lat. in 
Russia it is generally distributed as far as the western slopes of the 
Ural Mountains, but on the east side it is scarce, and is as yet 
