96 
ALLEN’S naturalist’s LIBRARY. 
wool IS sometimes found in them, as well as the pellets or 
castings of the birds. In many of the fir-clumps on the downs 
of our southern counties, a pair of Long-eared Owls may be 
found, the nest being in the most retired and darkest por- 
Uori of the clump, where no sunlight penetrates. Here the 
Owls rest during the day, either side by side, or perhaps drawn 
up against the trunk of a fir, and perfectl}’ motionless. On 
the approach of dusk, however, their awakened interest is 
manifested by a snapping of the bill, a noise which can be 
heard a long way off; and they may be seen quartering over 
the ground with a slow and noiseless flight, though I have 
never seen them play or tumble in the air, as Barn-Owls will 
often do. They never appear to hoot, but are described as 
uttering a barking kind of note, and also “mewing” like a 
young kitten. Mr. Norgate, who has contributed some in- 
teresting notes on the species to Mr. Seebohm’s “ History of 
British Birds,” believes that this “cat ’’-like note is that of the 
young birds, but at Avington in Hampshire, where Captain 
Shelley and myself have found several nests, this noise, which 
Mr. Norgate has so correctly described, was often heard by us 
but there were no young in the nests we examined, and there- 
fore It IS probably also uttered by the old birds. The food of 
this species consists of mice, rats, and small birds. 
The Long-eared Owl breeds early in the year, and eggs have 
been found at the end of February. Besides the above-men- 
tioned nests adopted by the species, it will also occupy an old 
Squirrel’s drey, or even the nest of a Heron. 
Nest. — As mentioned above, this species does not build a 
nest itself, but uses the old nest of a Squirrel or some bird. 
Eggs.— From four to six, sometimes seven. They are some- 
what oval in shape, pure white, and slightly glossy. Axis i-?- 
I'Sinch; diam., i •15-1-35 inch. ’ ^ 
11. THE SHORT-EARED OWL. ASIO ACCIPITRINUS. 
Strix accipifrina, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs. i. p. 455 (1771). 
Asio brachyoins (Forst.), Macg. Brit. B. iii. p. 461 (1840V 
B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 86 (1883) ; Lilford, Col. Fig Br 
B. part xi. (1S09). 
