LONG-EARED OWL. 163 



rotten eggs in it upon the 1st April 1871. On the same day we took 

 seven other nests with eggs/ This Owl seems alivays to make use of the 

 old nests of either Carrion-Crow, Wood-Pigeon^ or Magpie, and never^ 

 so far as I have been able to discovei% builds a wholly new nest for itself, 

 being content with repairing the other nests — if a Crow or a jNIagpie's be 

 the one selected, by flattening them down a little, and sometimes by the 

 addition of a few sticks to an old Wood-Pigeon's when the original struc- 

 ture was too slight. They are very early breeders, eggs being sometiaics 

 found when snow is still upon the ground. The earliest eggs I have known 

 were taken the last week in February; but the usual time of laying is 

 from the beginning of March until the first week in April. The bird, when 

 incubation has commenced, sits very closely indeed, often not leaving the 

 nest until the climber is within 6 or 8 feet of it. This makes the taking of 

 their eggs very hard work, as any old nest may contain eggs ; and as no 

 amount of knocking the trunk below, or firing of missiles at the nest above, 

 is certaia to start the Owl if there, there is nothing for it but climbing 

 every tree that holds an old nest that looks likely ; and as these firs usually 

 have a vast number of old nests of one sort or another in them, the work 

 soon becomes very hard, and (unless successful early on) an enthusiastic 

 oologist of not too mature an age is necessary, or the abandonment of the 

 search in disgust is more than probable. There seems to be no fixed 

 height for the nest preferred; the lowest I have seen was some 12 feet 

 above the ground, and the highest some 40 or 45 ; but usually 20 to 30 is the 

 height ; when the trees become very high, the Owls seem to leave them for 

 lower trees with thicker under-branches. The number of eggs laid is from 

 three to six; many nests contain four; five is also commonly found, whilst 

 a six clutch is not a great rarity. I have known one nest that contained 

 six young ones (in various stages of growth), and several with five; but 

 such successful hatchings are not common ; more frequently three to four 

 young ones are found, and often also one or more addled eggs are in the 

 nests with the young birds." 



The Long-eared Owl has the general colour of the upper parts ochraceous 

 buff, mottled and vermiculated with brown of various shades ; the ear-tufts 

 large, and composed of black feathers edged with buff. The underparts 

 are of a lighter ochraceous buff, with broad streaks of deep brown and faint 

 transverse bars of paler brown ; beak and claws dark horn-colour ; irides rich 

 orange-yellow. The female resembles the male, but is slightly more 

 rufous in general coloration. 



