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TAWNY OWL. 
Ultda stridula. — Selby. 
PLATE XXVIII. 
Strix stridula, Linn. — Cliouette liulotte, Temm Ulula 
stridula, Selby Tawny Owl, Brown Owl, Ivy Owl of 
British Ornithologists. 
Most of our writers on Britisli Ornithology have 
recorded this bird as being next to the White Owl, 
the most common of our natives ; Montague calls 
it “ by far the most plentiful Owl in England.” 
So far as our observations in the North of England 
and South of Scotland have extended, this is not 
the case, the Long-eared Owl appearing much more 
plentiful, and more generally distributed. While 
in Ireland, although it is mentioned in the statis- 
tical surveys, it has never occurred to Mr Thomp- 
son, and we are perhaps without any direct autho- 
rity for its occurrence there. Like the greater 
part of the family, it is strictly arboreal in its 
habits, delighting in dark or gloomy woods of pine 
or evergreen, enjoying there a grateful shade by 
day, and a secure retreat for its nest and young in 
the hollows of the more aged, or the deserted nests 
which have been placed near the summit of the 
