LONG-EARED OWL, 
55 
RA pro RES. 
SPRIG I DA'. 
LONG-EARED OWL. 
Otus vulgaris. 
PLATE XVII. FIG. III. 
The Long-eared Owl is to be met with in most of 
our woody districts, especially those which are composed 
of fir-trees. I was favoured, during the progress of my 
former work, with some notes of this species by Mr. J. 
H. Tuke, but as he has since given a more detailed ac¬ 
count in the “ Zoologist,” I prefer to copy it; he says,— 
“ This handsome species is rather generally distributed 
through the fir woods within six or seven miles around 
York, taking possession about the middle or end of 
March of the deserted nest of the crow, ringdove, and 
perhaps that of the squirrel, in a Scotch or spruce fir- 
tree, on which, after flattening and sometimes lining with 
a few feathers, are deposited its two or three beautifully 
white eggs. Out of six or seven instances we have 
never met with more than three eggs or young ones, and 
in most cases only two. It is curious to observe how 
flat they invariably make their nests, so much so, that 
in even a slight wind it is difficult to conceive how the 
eggs retain their position when the parent bird leaves 
them. 
“ This species does not seem to confine its flight en¬ 
tirely to the darker hours, nor its taste very strictly to 
the mouse tribe, as we have met them in the woods sail¬ 
ing quietly along as if hawking, on a bright sunny day, 
