or Jay ; the only Northamptonshire nest of Long-eared 

 Owl that I have examined appeared to me to consist of 

 the cup of the old nest of a Magpie with a broad fringe 

 or border of fir-twigs, apparently added by the Owls 

 themselves. In the north of Ireland and in Norfolk the 

 many nests occupied by this species that I have found 

 appeared to me to be those of Wood-Pigeons, but I think 

 that in almost every instance the Owls had added to the 

 original structure. I have several times come upon a 

 family of this species sitting close to each other in a row 

 on the same bough of an old Scotch fir, and apparently 

 as regardless of my presence at the foot of the tree as I 

 was delighted at the opportunity of making their ac- 

 quaintance under natural conditions. The attitudes and 

 expressions of a group of these birds when not alarmed 

 are inexpressibly comical. 



A considerable number of Long-eared Owls cross the 

 North Sea to our eastern coasts annually in November 

 and December ; I was assured by my friend the late 

 Mr. G. E. Hunt that on one occasion in a large wood 

 not far from the coast of Suffolk, when he was sent 

 forward to deal with rocketting pheasants, some sixty 

 or seventy at least of these Owls crossed the little valley 

 in which he stood. This Owl does not, so far as I am 

 aware, frequent buildings or hollow trees, but is fond of 

 dense masses of ivy, and was often found in the almost 

 impenetrable thickets of blackthorn which are, or perhaps 

 I should say were, so characteristic of the forest-district 

 of Northamptonshire. The cry of the Long-eared Owl 

 at pairing-time is a prolonged and most disagreeable 

 scream, at other seasons the only note that I have heard 



