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seating itself on the ground, or a paling, or low branch, or outhouse; and thence 
captures beetles and other insects on the wing, or snatches one off the branch of 
a tree; now and then taking a low, undulating flight over the plain or garden, and 
dropping on any small mouse, shrew, lizard, or insect it may spy on the ground.” 
The writer has often put his hand into some hole in a tree and had his fingers 
seized by one of these owlets, and has frequently noticed the calm nonchalance 
with which the birds have sat and regarded him when they have been dragged 
forth. The spotted owlet lays from two to four eggs, which are generally 
deposited in March. 
As already mentioned, the term hawk-owl, although commonly 
applied to the members of the genus Ninox, properly belongs to 
the species here represented. It may be well to add that the reader must be 
careful to avoid confusing the scientific title of this genus with the name 
Syrnium (p. 146). The hawk-owls bring us to a group of genera differing from 
those already described by the cere not being inflated, with the oval nostrils 
always pierced in its front margin. The hawk-owls, which have no distinct 
ear-tufts, are characterised by the long and graduated tail, which approaches the 
wing in length. The head is unusually flat, with the facial disc nearly obsolete, 
a strongly-curved and powerful bill, and a small orifice to the ear. The wings 
are short, and the whole plumage very hard and compact; while the legs are rather 
short, and the toes thickly feathered. 
The hawk-owl (Surnia ulula ) is the most hawk-like member of the order, 
both in appearance and habits. The typical form is distributed over Northern 
Europe and Asia, ranging through Siberia to Kamschatka and Amurland; a few 
stragglers ranging into Central Europe in the winter. It is represented in North 
America, to the northward of latitude 40°, by a darker variety ( funerea ); and, 
according to Dr. Coues, it is to this variety that some of the specimens taken in 
Britain belong. In length this owl reaches 15 or 16 inches. The general colour of 
the upper-parts is brown mottled with white,—the white being most abundant on 
the head and neck, and least so on the umber wings. The facial disc is dirty grey, 
bounded on the sides by a crescentic purplish brown patch, extending down from 
the ears. The chin is dusky; the throat and upper part of the breast are dull 
white, while the remainder of the under-parts is dull with numerous dusky bars: 
the under surface of the tail being barred with greyish brown and dull white. 
In addition to the darker colour of the upper surface, the American variety is 
distinguished by the broader and redder bars on the breast, and the smaller size of 
the white gorget. In habits the hawk-owl is strictly diurnal, hawking its prey 
in the bright sunshine. It is an inhabitant of the subalpine districts of 
Norway, sometimes reaching as high as the zone of birch-trees, although its true 
home is the fir-woods. Frequently it may be seen sitting in the full sunlight on 
some bare tree, surrounded by a mob of small birds; these the owl generally 
disregards, although at times it makes a sudden swoop on one of its tormentors. 
At the times when lemmings are migrating, hawk-owls make their appearance in 
great numbers to prey upon the rodent hosts. The nesting-place is usually upon 
the broken top of some dead tree; the eggs (five to eight in number) being laid 
either on the bare rotten wood, or upon a thin layer of dried grass. The female 
