18 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
LONG-EARED OWL. 
Asto otus, Linn. 
Pl. V., fig. 5. 
Geogr. distr.—Has a wide range over Europe, and visits N. Africa 
in winter ; is found in Asia as far east as China and Japan, and as far 
south as N. W. India. Resident in Great Britain, especially wooded 
districts in the North of England. 
Food.—Insects, small birds, mice, rats, shrews, moles, young 
rabbits. 
Nest.—The deserted nests of members of the Crow family or 
Buzzard, slightly repaired, and lined with feathers or down, or in 
Squirrels’ nests. 
Position of nest.—In trees in woods. 
Number of eggs.—4-5 ; usually 4. 
Time of nidification.—III-IV. 
Speaking of the note of this species the Rev. W. W. 
Flemyng says (Zool. vii., p. 430), ‘I heard it several times 
utter, at intervals of about a quarter of a minute, a very 
plaintive single note in a high key, which I syllabled 
“moo.” ... . With regard to the very strange quacking 
note of the Long-eared Owl (described by Mr. Ussher, Zool. 
1882, p. 265), is it not singular that this sound has not 
(apparently) been heard by English ornithologists, and 
that, as far as I am aware, no mention is made of it in 
any of the text-books on British birds ?” 
Speaking of nests taken by the Messrs. Tuke, 
Hewitson says, ‘‘ These nests were either on the outskirts 
or in an opening of the wood, the ground beneath them 
being strewed with the remains of the Blackbird, Yellow- 
hammer, Green Linnet, and Chaffinch.”* It is probable 
that all these birds were seized when at roost, the Long- 
eared Owl being especially a ‘‘ bird of night.” 
Asio otus inhabits Great Britain from Cornwall to Caith- 
ness; it also breeds in some of the Hebrides, and has 
occurred in the Orkneys and Shetland: a letter from Mr. 
Isaac Clark, quoted in Seebohm’s History of British Birds, 
states that it never builds a nest for itself, but always 
repairs an Old Wood Pigeon’s, or Magpie’s nest, and that 
the earliest date at which he had found a nest with young 
was on the Ist April. 
* A correspondent of the late Mr. Gould also recognised the remains 
of the Wheatear, Willow Wren, and Bullfinch, and Mr. Newton 
traced the Goldfinch in the stomach of one which he examined. (See 
the 4th edition of Yarrell’s British Birds). 
