Striges 113 



of Magpies, Crows, and so forth, and lays its shining 

 white eggs on a slight bedding of Httle twigs and 

 feathers, some of which generally drop to the ground 

 and betray the site. When disturbed the parents will 

 sit on a neighbouring tree and snap their bills loudly 

 at an intruder. The cry is shrill and hke that of 'an 

 infant ; it is most noticeable after the breeding season, 

 when the young commonly frequent gardens and copses 

 near vUlages. The colour of this Owl is darkish brown, 

 varied with grey and bu£E, the lower parts and face 

 being buff, the former streaked with brown. It is 

 found throughout Britain and the Palsearctic region 

 generally, except in the coldest portions, and in 

 Abyssinia, and is represented in the Nearctic by a 

 mere subspecies. It may breed as early as February. 

 This bird has two long tufts of feathers on the head, 

 erroneously called " ears," or hardly more correctly 

 ''' horns." 



The Short-eared Owl {A . accipitrinus) is much lighter 

 in colour than its congener, though marked with larger 

 blotches, and the tufts on the head are much shorter. 

 It migrates to us in autumn in large numbers, and is 

 known to shooters from its wavering flight as the 

 " Woodcock Owl." A few pairs, however, which may or 

 Inay not be resident, breed in Orkney, Cambridgeshire 

 and Norfolk. From our other Owls it differs in being 

 mainly a diurnal bird, which quarters the ground in 

 the day-time for mice, rats, reptiles and large insects ; 

 moreover it makes a fairly solid nest on the ground in 

 heather, sedge, or rough pastures. Its foreign range 

 extends not only over the Palsearctic region, bat also 

 the Nearctic and Neotropical, excluding the colder 

 parts. In times of vole plagues, as on the Scottish 



E. B. 8 



