THE LONG-EARED OWL. 63 
Family—S TRIGID A. 
Lonc-EarED Owlt. 
Asio otus, LINN. 
HERE are two species of the genus Aso, Tufted Owls, common in the 
British Isles, easily distinguishable from each other, first by the length 
of their tufts, and in the second place, by their haunts; the Long-eared Owl, 
the first of the two to be considered, being a dweller in woods, while the 
Short-eared Owl avoids them, and is found on open moors and fens. The 
plumage, also, presents many marks of distinction. The Long-eared Owl is 
generally dispersed over the British Isles, but is chiefly known as a winter 
visitor to the extreme western counties of England. It is very common in 
the large fir-woods in Scotland, and in general is a lover of evergreen planta- 
tions, where it roosts throughout the day, sitting on a branch close up to the 
bole of the tree, where it is hard to distinguish it on account of the close 
correspondence between the general colour of the bark and that of its plumage. 
If a stranger approaches its roosting place, or it becomes suspicious of any 
danger, it elevates its tufts, and becomes watchful and observant, ready at an 
instant to flit off on silent wing to another perch. In the autumn large 
numbers of these very pretty Owls cross over to us from the Continent, and 
the woods in the eastern counties are sometimes full of them at that season. 
The Long-eared Owl does not leave its roost until the dusk, when it flies 
abroad in search of rats, mice, voles, or small birds, seizing the latter off their 
perches; it also feeds on large moths and beetles. Lord Lilford, who pos- 
sessed a greater acquaintance with Owls and their ways than any other English 
ornithologist, owing to his fondness for them and the number of species he 
had from time to time alive in his aviaries at Lilford, remarks “from my own 
observation I am inclined to think that the Long-eared Owl prefers small birds 
to quadrupeds as food, though it no doubt destroys many field-mice and 
voles,” adding ‘‘all the Owls of my acquaintance are very fond of a diet of 
fishes.” The Long-eared Owl breeds early in the year, often in February or 
the beginning of March; it never nests in a hollow-tree, but selects the 
deserted nest of a Crow, Magpie, or Wood-Pigeon, repairing it, and lining it 
