286 
SHOUT-EARED OWL. 
rank as summer, perhaps permanent residents. 
Hoy, and the other Hebrides, where they were 
first discovered to breed, were considered the 
southern limit of their incubation ; but it extends 
much farther, and may be perhaps stated as the 
extensive muirland ranges of Cumberland, West- 
moreland, and Northumberland. Over all the 
Scottish muirs it occurs in considerable abundance ; 
there are few sportsmen who are unacquainted with 
it ; many being killed during the grouse season, 
and those individuals which Mr Selby mentions 
occurring on the upland muirs, most probably bred 
there. On the extensive muirs at the head of the 
Dryfe, a small rivulet in l)umfries-shire, I have, 
for many years past, met with one or two pairs of 
these birds ; and the accidental discover)' of their 
young first turned my attention to the range of 
their breeding ; for, previous to this, I also held 
the opinion that they had commenced their migra- 
tion southward. The young was discovered by 
one of my dogs pointing it ; and in the following 
year, by searching at the proper season, two nests 
were found, with five eggs each. The nests were 
formed upon the ground on the heath; the 
bottom scraped until the fresh earth appeared, on 
which the eggs were placed, without any lining or 
other accessary covering. Wien approaching the 
nest or young, the old birds fly and hover round. 
