SHORT-EARED OWL. 
m 
SHORT-EARED OWL. — STRIX BRACHYOTOS. 
Plate XXXIII. Fig. 3. 
Turton, Syst. p. 167 — Arct. Zool. p. 229, No. 116 Lath. i. 124. — La chouette, 
ou la grand cheveche, Luff. i. PI. cnl. 438. — Scale's Museum, No. 440. 
OTUS BRACHYOTOS — Cuvier.* 
Short- eared Owl, Sew. Sr. Sirds, i. p. 48, 50. — Selby , Illust. Sr. Orn. i. p. 54. 
pi. 21. — Hibou brachyote, Temm. Man. i. p. 99. — La Chouette, ou le moyen due, 
a, Huppes courtes, Cuv. Regn. Anim. i. p. 328 Otus brachyotus, Flem. Sr. 
Anim. p. 56 — Strix braehyotos, Sonap. Synop. p. 37 Strix brachyota, North. 
Zool. p. 75. 
This is another species common to both continents, being 
found in Britain as far north as the Orkney Isles, where it 
also breeds, building its nest upon the ground, amidst the 
* This Owl, as Wilson observes, is also common to both continents, but 
the British history of it is comparatively unknown. The following observa- 
tions may perhaps advance some parts of it : — 
In England it bears the name of Woodcock Owl, from its appearance nearly 
about the same time with that bird, and its reappearance again in the spring. 
Very few, if any, remain during the whole season, and they are only met with 
in their migrations to and from the north, their breeding-places, similar to the 
appearance, for a few days, of the Ringousels and Dotterels ; in spring, singly 
or in pairs ; and in the fall, in small groups, the amount of their broods when 
again retiring. They do not appear to be otherwise gregarious ; and it is only 
in this way that we can account for the flock of twenty-eight in a turnip field, 
quoted by our author, and the instances of five or six of these birds frequently 
found roosting together, as mentioned by Mr Selby. They appear at the same 
seasons, (according to Temminck,) and are plentiful in Holland. It is only in 
the north of England, and over Scotland, that they will rank as summer 
visitants. Hoy, and the other Hebrides, where they were first discovered to 
breed, were considered the southern limit of their incubation. It extends, 
however, much farther ; and may be, perhaps, stated as the extensive muirland 
ranges of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Northumberland. Over all the 
Scottish muirs, it occurs in considerable abundance ; there are few sportsmen 
who are unacquainted with it ; many are killed during the Grouse season, and 
those individuals which Mr Selby mentions as found on upland moors, I have 
no doubt bred there. On the extensive moors at the Head of Dryfe, (a 
