LONG-EARED OWL. 
107 
his way back among so many houses cannot be imagined — this happening in 
Leicester. 
Harley once found two eggs, two young birds almost in a “ squab ” state, and 
one fledgeling far advanced towards maturity, in one nest. 
In Eutland.- — As in Leicestershire. — ]Mr. Horn once took a clutch of eggs 
from the bottom of a hollow tree. 
Family ASIONIDJ3. 
LONG-EARED OWL. Asio otus (Idnnseus). 
“Horned Owl.” 
Resident, but rarer than the Short-eared Owl. — It was included by Mr. 
Babington amongst the birds of Chamwood Forest (p. 66) as “not very common.” 
Harley noted that it occurred at Gopsall Woods, and that it affected well-wooded 
tracts, especially where coniferous trees and evergreens prevail, but was not so 
frequently met with as the “Brown” or “Ivy” Owl. He wrote: — “The Long- 
eared Owl is, of all our nocturnal birds of prey, the most solitary,” and remarked 
that it does not limit itself to small mammalia, but attacks the young Pheasant, 
and makes havoc of the Partridge, as he had more than once witnessed. I 
received one from Gopsall in 1880. Mr. Macaulay presented one to the Museum, 
which had been caught in a Rat-trap at Saddington Reservoir, 26th Oct., 1882. 
I obtained another (a female with well-developed eggs) from Elkington, shot in 
the district on 24th March, 1884, and I received a male from the late Mr. 
Widdowson, shot at Melton on 30th April, 1885. 
“ This species makes no nest, but, betaking itself to the spruce-fir or pine, 
selects the deserted nest of a Magpie or Carrion-Crow, which it refits for its own 
use.” Thus Harley, who had seen its young taken from such a situation, in the 
month of July, in a half-fledged condition, but could not state positively whether 
they were the first or second brood. He added : — “ While the nestlings are 
dependent upon their parents, they are the most clamorous for food of all the 
Strigiclce, and on still evenings, in a retired district, the noise made by the 
brood may be heard several furlongs distant.” On 18th May, 1882, I went over 
to Ashlands to see four young ones, taken from the deserted nest of a Carrion- 
Crow on the 13th. The birds were feeding well, and were very pretty, being 
covered with greyish-white down, freckled with duskier markings, and with 
distinct ear-tufts about half an inch in length, also grey, and barred ; their irides 
were pale yellow. Mr. Davenport, who took them, described the ears of the old 
bird as “ standing up above the nest like the ears of a Fox.” 
In Rutland. — As in Leicestershire. — Mr. Horn has furnished me with the 
following notes: — “About 1876 a specimen was shot in Wardley Wood by Mr. 
Cooper of Ayston, and is now in his possession. ]\Ir. H. W. Betts, of Ketton 
