298 TAWNY OWL. 
unknown in Siberia. Throughout temperate Europe the Tawny 
Owl is found in suitable localities, but in the south it is very local, 
being almost confined to the higher wooded districts in the Spanish 
Peninsula and Italy, while it has not yet been obtained in Corsica 
or Sardinia. In North Africa and Asia Minor it is known to breed 
in small numbers, and Canon Tristram met with it among the 
cedars of Lebanon. At least six other members of the genus 
occupy the area between Turkestan and China. 
The Tawny Owl breeds early, sometimes having eggs at the end 
of February and often by the middle of March in England, though 
later in the north of Scotland. A hollow in the trunk of some 
decayed tree, especially when covered with ivy, is a favourite site ; but 
old nests of Rooks (even in frequented rookeries), Crows, Magpies 
and other birds are often occupied, and ruins, barns, out-buildings, 
disused chimneys &c. are occasionally resorted to ; while instances 
of eggs being laid in rabbit-burrows, on ledges of root-trellised crags, 
or on the bare ground under shelter of fir-branches, are common. 
The 3-4 and even 6 white eggs are rather smooth in surface and 
nearly round in shape: measurements 1°8 by 1°5 in. The clicking 
note of the young resembles the word ee-wick ; the old birds may 
be heard to utter their loud ov-hoo, whoo-it, or tu-whit, to-who 
as it is rendered by Shakespeare, chiefly in the evening, but also 
shortly before dawn. During the day this species remains con- 
cealed, and appears to dislike the sunlight more than any other 
British Owl; while it depends largely upon its sense of hearing. 
Some bold individuals resent an approach to their nest, and cases 
are known of distinct aggressiveness. The food consists chiefly 
of voles, rats, mice, shrews, squirrels, moles, and occasionally of 
small birds, insects, and surface-swimming fishes. 
The adult male has the upper parts of varying shades of ash-grey 
mottled with brown, with large white spots on the outer webs of the 
wing-coverts ; tail barred with brown and tipped with white ; under 
parts buffish-white, mottled with pale and streaked with dark brown ; 
facial disk greyish, with a dark brown border ; operculum large ; legs 
feathered to the claws. Length about 15 in.; wing 10 in. The 
female is much larger, and often more rufous in plumage. This 
species is, however, subject to dichromatism, and there are two 
distinct phases—a red and a grey—the colour of which is indepen- 
dent of sex ; the ruddy form being, perhaps, the more common in 
this country. The nestlings are covered with greyish down ; after- 
wards the plumage is generally more rufous than in the adults. 
