3G 
STRIGID^. 
I can only conclude that, being somewhat short-sighted, he 
was deceived in this instance as he was in many others. 
The Eagle Owl had not been observed in Shetland for several 
years, until in the autumn of 1863 Eobert Mcolson saw one in 
IT list. It was sitting upon a stone on a low piece of ground 
near Haroldswick, and allowed him to approach very near. 
He described it as being about the size of a Snowy Owl, hut 
much darker, '' with ears like a rabbit’s, only sticking out from 
each side of its head.” He also said that he had seen a bird 
of the kind only twice or thrice before, and that in all cases 
they were remarkably tame. 
It has been my own lot to meet with this magnificent bird 
only once. This was in Balta early in March 1871. It was 
sitting upright upon a large stone on the east side of Balta, and 
was so little alarmed by my sudden appearance above the brae, 
that it merely flew for about two hundred yards and realighted. 
When I returned a few days afterwards, having been de- 
tained by rough weather during the interval, it was nowhere 
to be found, although some people had observed it several 
times in the small island of Hunie, a little further southwards, 
in which also rabbits abound. Surrounding the large stone 
upon which I had first seen it, were numerous pellets of rabbits’ 
fur and bones, showing the place to be a favourite resort. The 
flight, though vigorous and rapid, struck me as being less 
buoyant than that of other owls. 
THE LOXG-EAEED OWL. 
Ohis vulgaris. 
Only one specimen is mentioned by Messrs Baikie and 
Heddle as having been killed in Orkney, and I have not suc- 
ceeded in obtaining any information as to its occurrence in 
Slietland previously to the 28th of October 1868, when, after a 
strong north-west wind, I shot one in the garden at Halligarth, 
wliich it had been liaunting for some days. Again, on the 3rd 
