SHORT-EARED OWL. 167 



STRIX BRACHYOTTIS. 

 SHORT-EARED OWL. 



(Plate 7.) 



Strix noctua major, Briss. Orn. i. p. •511 (1760). 



Stiyx accipitrina, Pall. JReise Bii^s. Meichs, i. p. 4-j5 (1771). 



Noctua minor, Gmd. Xov. Comm. I'etrup. xv. p. 447, pi. 12 (1771). 



Strix braclij'otus, Forst. Phil. Trans. Ixii. p. 384(1772); et auctorum plurimorum 

 — G)n('lui, II ils'iii, Vieillot, Nainuann, Tcmmiiick, Iluu.c, Swainson, Richardson, 

 Audubon, Schlegel, Yarrell, Sundevall, (Oould), (Gray), (Kaiip), (Jei-don), (Gur- 

 net/), (JJCume), (Finsch), (Sioinhoe), &c. &o. 



Strix arctica, Sparnn. Mus. Carls, iii. pi. 51 (1788). 



Strix palustris, Bechst. Xutury. Deutschl. ii. p. 344 (1791). 



Strix tripennis, Schrank, Fauna Boica, i. p. 113 (1798). 



Strix caspia, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zoul. vii. pt. 2, p. L'72 (1809). 



Otu3 microcephalus. Leach, Sy.^t. Cat. Mamm. SfC. Brit. Mus. p. 11 (1816). 



Strix brachyura, Nilss. Orn. Suec. i. p. 62 (1817). 



Otus lirachyotns (Fvrst.), Steph. Shaics Gen. Zonl. xiii. pt. 2, p. •07 (1820). 



Strix sandwichensis, Bloxh. Byron's Vuy. of H. M.S. ' Bhinde,' App. p. 2.")0 (182(')). 



Brachyotus palustris (Bechst.), Bonap. Cunip. List B. Eur. S; N. Anier. p. 7 (18.j8). 



Asio brachyotus (Forst.), Macyill. Brit. Birdi, iii. p. 4(jl (1840). 



Aegolius brachyotus (For.^t.), Keys. ^ Bias. Wirh. Ear. p. xxxiii (1840). 



Asio sandTicensis (Bloxh.), Blyth, Ibis, 180.'!, p. 27. 



Asio accipitrinus (Pall.), Newt. ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 163 (1872), 



Strix ulula, Linn, apud Boddaert, Gnndiii, Pallas, Lesson, &c. 



The Short-eared Owl is a regular winter visitor to Great Britain and 

 Ireland, and has not yet been completely exterminated from the fens, 

 where a few still breed. It is generally distributed on moorlands and 

 marshes in the north of England, Scotland, the "Western Isles, the 

 Orkneys, and the Shetlands. 



Outside our islands its range is almost eosmopolitan. It appears to be 

 only a summer visitor to Holland, North Germany, Scandinavia, and North 

 Russia, passing tlirough France on migration. In South Europe it is 

 principally known as a winter visitant ; but in South Russia and the Cau- 

 casus many apparently remain to breed. It probably also breeds in some 

 parts of Africa, although its distribution there is comparatively little known. 

 It has been recorded from several parts of North Africa, is a regular 

 winter visitant to North-east Africa, and an example has been obtained 

 in Natal. Eastwards it is a summer visitor throughout Siberia, passing 

 through Persia, Turkestan, and Japan on migration, and wintering in India 

 and Burma. It does not appear to have occurred in Australia, or in any 

 of the islands of the Southern Pacific ; but it is said to be a resident 

 on the Sandwich Islands. On the American continent it is a summer 

 visitor to Alaska, Canada, and Greenland up to about lat. 70°, wintering 



