BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 175 
IS certainly the most common next to the Mii te Owl 
The Long-eared Owl is strictly arboreal in its habitat 
ano^ It wages war against field-mice, voles rats 
piague ot 1891-1893 it had a good time, but Mr Hush 
and August I received large numbers of owls from varion, 
parts of the county. The long-eared species was by for the 
not dr^TT' ''""^ condition "wt 
. . . Ihis great mortahty is attributed prineiDaUv tn 
the cessation of the vole plague, for when the X we e 
numerous the owls flocked from aU parts of thlT T 
attracted by the abundant food supply "f 
f ^ considerable immigration of this species 
from the Contment frequently takes place on the eit coll 
l?Tt fir ' '1 " ^'^-Wesshire, at this searn of th 
year, it is often quite common 
Several pairs occasionally nest in proximity, and Mr 
WiUiam Laidlaw writes me that Crofthead Wood (CanS" 
m TaLT '"'T'^ "^^^^ was bloti'Jor 
S2 b. r ^^d of Mar^ 
Sng'intt «r ^s: 
contained from four to sevenlggs, andlfb' ds Sd 
Mr R. Kearton describes the " note " of thi« hiV^ 
old Ss'°''*'"* ^"-^^'^ states " Th" 
old birds occasionally make a barking or 'quacking' 
noise, while on the wing as well as when'perchedTbut as 
* Nat. Lib., 1838, Vol. IX., pp. 281, 282. 
t Trans. D. and Q. Nat. Hist. Soc, April 20th, 1894. 
; Bnt. Birds' Nests, 1901, p. 180. 
