THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 87 



at very close quarters. Flight, when hunting, is slow, erratic and 

 undulating, close to ground, but, if disturbed at nesting-place, 

 especially after young are hatched, bird passes to and fro overhead, 

 occasionally shaking its body or actually turning a somersault, 

 smiting the wings together both above and below the body with 

 a loud clap, dashing now and then at head of intruder and uttering 

 a hoarse, barking " whowc " of defiance. 



Breeding -habits. — -Haunts open moors, marshes, commons, 

 warrens and sand dunes. Nest merely a scrape among heather, 

 grass or in sand ; in marshes a trampled space among sedge or 

 sheltered by dead reeds. Eggs. — White, very variable in number 

 but generally ranging from 4 to 8, though 9, 10, 11, 12 and even 

 13 and 14 have been recorded during vole plagues. Usually laid 

 at intervals of 2 days, but apparently large sets referred to above 

 are laid in batches with an interval of several days between them. 

 Average size of 100 eggs, 39.7 X 31.1. Max. : 44.6 x 32.7 and 41 x 

 33. Mm. : 35.1 X 30 and 35.2 x 29.5 mm. Breeding -season. — 

 From latter part April to June in Orkneys. Incubation. — Appar- 

 ently by hen alone ; period not ascertained. In vole plagues two 

 broods are certainly reared but probably it is normally single 

 brooded. 



Food. — Main food consists of small mammals, also small birds 

 and insects, chiefly coleoptera. Mammals, principally field 

 voles ; also field mice, occasionally young rats and young rabbits. 

 Birds include Twite, Meadow-Pipit, Thrush, Blackbird, Hedge- 

 Sparrow, Tree-Creeper (once), young Larks, Snipe (once), young 

 Lapwings, Dunlin. Also seen to kill Black-headed Gull. 

 Distribution. — British Isles. — Resident and winter -visitor (end 

 Sept. to mid-May). In England and Wales nests occasionally 

 in many counties but doubtfully regularly anywhere south of 

 Lanes, and Yorks. except in Cambs. and possibly in Hants. 

 Northwards and throughout Scotland nests locally and sparingly, 

 but in Shetlands rarely and in I. Hebrides infrequently. Not 

 known to nest in Ireland. As winter -visitor fairly generally 

 distributed, and both as breeder and migrant numbers fluctuate 

 considerably, and are greatly augmented in years of vole plague, 

 e.g. 1874-6 and 1891-3 in south Scotland. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Nearly cosmopolitan, but absent in 

 Europe as a breeding -species from Spain. Occasional visitor 

 Iceland and Faeroes, Madeira, Canaries, Corsica. If no other races 

 can be separated (which is by no means settled) certainly that 

 inhabiting Hawaii is different, a pale Asiatic form has also been 

 separated which may be valid. 



Genus OTUS Penn. 



Otus Pennant, Indian Zoology, p. 3 (1769 — Monotype: O. bakkamcena, 

 an Indian form). 



(Scops of some, Pisorhina of other authors.) 



