The Owls. 
107 
THE 
LONG-EARED 
OWL. 
( Asio otus.) 
The Long-Eared Owl. 
It makes no nest to speak of and the white 
eggs, four to six in number, are laid at the 
bottom of a hole in a tree or building. 
All the ‘Eared’ Owls, 
as they are called, and the 
‘ Wood ’ Owls belong to 
a separate Sub-family 
Syrniina, which are remark- 
able for their complete facial disk, and for the 
large operculum which shuts in the ear-openings. 
The Long-eared Owl has very distinct feather- 
tufts on the head, and these it is able to erect ; 
the plumage is thickly mottled and lined 
with blackish. It looks like an Eagle Owl 
in miniature, but is not half the size, and on 
the under parts it has some very broad black 
streaks. It is found throughout the British 
Islands, nesting in the darkest recesses of the 
pine-woods, and it breeds throughout Europe 
and Northern Asia, as well as in the Hima- 
layas. It is strictly a night-flying bird, preferring to sit during the day-time in the 
dark shade of the woods, generally near its nest, which is usually an old one 
of some Crow or Hawk. Its food consists of rats, mice, and small birds. The 
eggs, from four to seven in number, are white, 
with a slight gloss. 
This Owl is of about the 
THE 
SHORT-EARED 
OWL. 
( Asio accipitrinus.) 
same size as the preceding 
species, but is rather a 
stouter bird, and is to be told 
at once by the short feather- 
tufts or ‘ears’ on the head, and by the lighter 
colour of the plumage, especially underneath, 
where the breast is broadly streaked with brown, 
but there are no wavy cross-lines or vermi- 
culations as in A. otus. It nests in the northern 
parts of England and in Scotland, and is found 
over the rest of the United Kingdom in winter 
and during migration. Its breeding home ex- 
tends from Northern Europe and Siberia to 
Kamtchatka, and it is also found across North 
The Short-Eared Owl. America. On migration it extends occasionally 
