250 
OWLS. 
eagerly hunted for. Small birds are, however, 
occasionally taken, the remains being found in the 
stomach ; at the same time, we mention the mam- 
malia as the more general food. The Short-eared 
Owl is a bird considerably more diurnal in its 
habits, and during the breeding season it preys 
on young of game and the birds which frequent 
muirland districts. The two large species, also, 
seem to attack grouse and rabbits, or young hares, 
but all of them by coming suddenly on their prey, 
and not by entering upon any chase or pursuit. 
Mr Thompson, in his paper on the Irish Raptores, 
mentions, on the authority of a friend, that the 
remains of coleoptera have been frequently found 
mixed up with the castings.* Temminck men- 
tions this food in his Manual, and it is also con- 
firmed by Mr Waterton, who discovered the shreds 
of beetles in the castings of the Tawny Owl, 
Several of the night-flying coleoptera are of large 
size ; and if we judge from the analogy presented 
by the smaller Falcons, w r e are entitled to consider 
that insects are more frequently preyed on than 
is at present suspected. Some of the small species 
feed wholly “ upon beetles, grasshoppers, and other 
insects.” t Fish also form a portion of their 
food. Mr Waterton has seen the White Owl 
seize a fish in the water ; while we have the autho- 
* See Magazine of Zoology and Botany, ii. p. 178. 
+ Mr Spence, in Loudon’s Mag. of Nat. Hist. v. p. 655. 
