SHORT-EARED OWL 187 
SHORT-EARED OWL. 
(^Asio accipitrinus.) 
This Owl is best known as a winter visitor from 
November onwards, and from the time of its arrival, 
the fact that it is often flushed while shooting, 
and its twisting method of flight, it is sometimes 
known as the Woodcock Owl. It differs from our 
other Owls in its preference for cultivated fields 
and heathery moors and commons over woodlands, 
and also in its having no aversion to being out and 
about by day. It is smaller than the L.ong-eared 
Owl, and looks smaller still owing to the ear-like 
tufts being very much shorter, and practically 
invisible ; the facial disc is also less round and con- 
spicuous than in the purely night-flying kinds. In 
general colour it is a mixture of mottled greys and 
browns, like the last species ; but it is rather 
lighter in general colour, and sometimes it looks 
almost as light as a Barn Owl, though it has always 
its streaked breast to distinguish it, as well as 
the distinctly ashy-brown instead of yellowish tinge 
of its back. It breeds year by year in various 
parts of the moorland countries of Wales, Scotland, 
and the north and west of England, as well as 
sometimes in the eastern counties, and the usual 
time is May. No nest is made other than a 
