AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 53 



and Hants, as soon as tliey could fly and provide for 

 themselves. On April 25 a nest of Long-eared Owl 

 containing five eggs was found in one of our planta- 

 tions at Lilford, but one of these eggs was cracked, 

 as I believe, by a Squirrel, and the nest was evidently 

 deserted when first discovered. Although both the 

 parent birds remained in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood for a considerable time, I could not hear of 

 their attempting to breed again. 



In many parts of England, especially those in which 

 there are large extents of fir-woods, this Owl is very 

 abundant, and, according to Yarrell and other authors, 

 its numbers are increased in the eastern counties by 

 an autumnal migration. We have more than once, 

 when shooting in AVest Norfolk and Suffolk, come 

 upon a party of ten or more of these Owls collected 

 in an old Scotch fir or scattered in a young plantation 

 of spruce or larch ; they disperse on being disturbed, 

 and, if marked into a thick tree, may be very closely 

 approached and watched. I w^ould never lift my gun 

 at an Owl of any species in this country, but I am 

 sorry to say that on occasions such as I have just 

 mentioned my companions have seldom been of my 

 way of thinking, and many of these nseful and beau- 

 tiful birds have fallen victims without any reason 

 whatever. 



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. In the absence of fir- 

 woods this Owl will take up its abode in thick masses 

 of evergreen shrubs ; and in the island of Corfu, 

 where it is not uncommon, is generally met with in 

 the thickest coverts of arbutus and myrtle. With a 



