THE EAGLE OWL. 85 
family—S TRIGIDA.. 
EAGLE OWL. 
Bubo *maximus, FLEMING. 
E pass from describing the smallest Owl on the British list, the tiny 
Scops, to the largest, the noble Eagle Owl, the name Eagle being con- 
ferred upon it because of its pre-eminence in size and strength. It is a powerful 
and courageous bird, inhabiting the northern and central Palearctic region, and 
found throughout Europe, in the forests and mountains, from Lapland to the 
Mediterranean. In the British Islands it is stated to have been formerly a resident 
in the Orkneys, but it is now only a very rare occasional visitor to the north of 
Scotland, and in the English counties its occurrences have been very few, and as 
this grand Owl is often kept in a semi-domesticated state, most of these may 
have been due to escapes; it is doubtful if it has ever been obtained in Ireland. 
On account of the havoc wrought by it to game a price is’set upon its head, 
and it is greatly persecuted in all the large preserved forests of central Europe, 
and is becoming scarce in consequence. The Eagle Owl is strictly nocturnal, 
hiding by day in great trees, or among the rocks, but if it flies abroad in the 
daytime it is not dazed by the most brilliant sunshine; it comes forth to hunt 
early in the evening. Its cry is a deep hoot, chiefly heard at the nesting season ; 
some have likened its note to the distant bark of a gruff old watch dog. It nests 
early in the year, in February and March, generally in the forests on some lofty 
tree, selecting often some deserted nest of other birds, but almost invariably at a 
great elevation from the ground. Or else the nest is a mere hole scratched out 
on the ledge of a rock, or on the ground at the foot of a tree. Wolley gives a 
very good description of one found by him in Lapland—‘‘ When we were fairly 
in the cliffs we came to a point where some large bird was in the habit of sitting 
to tear its prey, and feathers and white feet of hares were lying about. A great 
Owl flew before us, showing a beautiful expanse of back and wings; and as we 
proceeded in the direction from which it came, another large Owl rose from the 
face of the cliff, flew a hundred paces forward, turned its wide face towards us, 
and came a short distance back. I stopped to examine it with my glass to be 
* The writer refuses to continue T. Forster’s absurd and libellous name Budo ignavus. 
Vou. II O 
