98 
alt.tcn’s naturalist’s i.ilrary 
eared Owl by the shortness of the ear-tufts and by the absence 
of minute cross- vermiculations, which are so plentiful in the 
Long-eared Owls, the feathers being broadly striped with brown 
both above and below. 
Eange in Great Britain. — The Short-eared Owl breeds in such 
haunts as are suitable to it in the north of England and in 
Scotland, as well as in the Orkney and Shetlands. It also 
nests sparingly in the eastern counties of England. In Ireland 
It occurs as an autumn and winter visitant, but is not included 
as a breeding species in the latest list of Mr. R. J. Ussher. 
Over tlie greater part of England it is chiefly met with in 
.autumn and winter, when a considerable migration of the 
species takes place. 
Range outside the British Islands. — Unlike the Long-eared Owl 
the present species has not been recorded from Iceland, though 
it occasionally wanders to the Faeroe Islands. It nests through- 
out Northern Europe, and even in South Russia and the cL- 
casus, while it probably breeds throughout Northern Asia, as 
it has been found to do so in Eastern Siberia and Kamtchatka. 
Throughout the central and southern countries of Europe it is 
known as a migratory species, and it also passes through China 
on migration, to winter in Southern China, Burma, and the 
Indian Peninsula. 
In the New World the Short-eared Owl is found from the 
Arctic Regions to the very extreme of South America. Slightly 
modified forms are met with — ^isio gala^ingetisis, in the Gala- 
pagos Islands, and in the Sandwich Islands, Asia sandwichen- 
sis. A dark species, Asio Ci.pensis, is met with in South Africa, 
and occurs also in Marocco and Southern Spain, and is said to 
interbreed with our own Short-eared Owl. With the exception 
of Australia and the Malayan Peninsula and islands, our bird 
may be said to have an almost cosmopolitan range, though h 
is doubtful whether it ever extends in winter below North- 
eastern Africa, the sole evidence of its having been met with 
in South Africa resting on a specimen sent alive to the Zoo- 
logical Gardens many years ago, and said to have come from 
Natal. 
Habits. — In winter time and during the shooting-season, the 
