116 URAL OWL. 
Soleure; and M. Michaelles has reported its having 
been several times killed in the environs of Salzbourg. 
It is found in the north of Sweden, is not uncommon 
in Livonia and Hungary, and is seen rarely in the 
eastern parts of Germany. It seems to be pretty nearly 
confined to these districts, occurring very accidentally 
in any other part of the world, among which excep- 
tional localities we may name Japan. 
M. Schinz, who saw alive the bird said by Meisner 
to, have been found in the cantons of Berne and the 
Soleure, is of opinion that it was only a variety of 
Strix aluco, the 'Tawny Owl of the British list. 
The Ural Owl preys principally upon birds and small 
animals, which towards the close of day it may be seen 
looking out for, among the wild forests of the desolate 
regions in which it lives. It builds its nest in the 
holes of trees, and lays four or five eggs, which are 
like the rest of the genus, obtuse, and of a pure glossy 
white. . 
The Ural Owl was first discovered by Pallas, in his 
“Journey into Russia in 1776,” and was described by 
him in the Appendix to the French edition of his 
“Voyage,” page 29. Dr. Latham has the following 
description of this bird in his “Synopsis,” vol. i., page 
168, sp. 37, in which he has closely followed Pallas :— 
Bill colour of wax; eyelids and irides black; feathers 
2 
surrounding the eyes cinereous, encircled with black 
and white feathers, and reaching quite from the forehead 
to the throat; colour of the upper part of the body 
not unlike that of Strix aluco, but paler, and with 
scarce any undulations on the feathers; the parts be- 
neath, except a few slender lines, are quite white; rump 
white; the outer edge of the three outer quills serrated 
the whole of their length; fourth and fifth serrated 
