RACHYOTUS PALUSTRIS.
Short-eared Owl.
Stria bracfyotos, Gtnei. iidit. Lina. Syst Nat., tom. L p. 289.
— ayolms, Pall. 2oog. Ross. A«., tom. i. p. 309.
— uluta, Gmei. edit. Linn- Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 294.
— accipitritm, Pall. Itin., yol i. p. 445.
— palustris, Bechsi. f t t j . Deutscb,, torn' ii. p. 844.
— trrachyura, Nik. R*un. Suec., tosi- i. p. 62.
Ot-mi rachyotus.. Steph. Cent, of Shaw's Gen. Zool., vol.- xiii.pt. 2. p. 57.
.'■ ■'■hyotiis vatuMtris, Gould, Birds of Europe, vol. i. pi. 40.
— europetus, Bonap. Consp. Gen. Av., tom. i. p. &\.—Bracbyotm, sp. 1.
T heke are in nearly every group o f birds certain species which are eminently cosmopolitan—wanderers, as
it were, over the whole (o r nearly the whole) surface o f our globe ; and the present bird may be regarded
as the cosmopolite among the Owls, since it ranges so widely that there are few countries which it does
not inhabit. I t is true that the ornithologists o f the United States consider their bird to be distinct from
the Short-eared OwLof the Old World ; but the difference between them is, in my opinion, too slight to
warrant their being regarded in that light.
Wherever a bird breeds, that country may justly claim it as one of its indigenous inhabitants : hence
this Owl may be so considered in the British Islands; fpr although there is an immigration froln the
north about the end o f October, and a corresponding diminution in spring, yet considerable numbers did
formerly* and many now, remain to breed in England, Scotland, and Ireland. We have abundant
evidence th at this bird inhabits the African contineut, from north to south. Mr. Jerdon states that it
arrives in India a t the beginning of the cold weather, and leaves again about March, spreading itself in the
interval over the entire Peninsula, from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas, and being often flushed and killed
by the florican-bunters. Every country o f the European continent enumerates it in the list o f its avifauna.
It is common on the Amur, and doubtless in every part o f China. In America, it frequents the fur-
countries in summer, and at other seasons the whole of the northern States, from east to west. When
speaking o f this species in my ‘ Birds o f Europe,’ I stated that I had seen examples from other portions of
the New World, even as far as the southernmost parts o f Chili ; and although I cannot now refer to the
specimens, I am inclined to believe that I was correct in so saying. In Australia, New Zealand, and
Polynesia it has never been found ; neither have I any reason to suppose that it .is a native of any o f the
Indian Islands, such as Borneo, Java, the Philippines, and Japan ; .everywhere else this flapping diurnal
Owl appears to be either a constant resident or a migrant.
In England, this bird »* known to sportsmen as the Woodcock Owl, from the circumstance o f its numbers
being greatly augmented about the time o f the arrival o f that bird in November; in all probability, both
species are under tbr ---¡m' influence, and compulsorily leave the coast of Norway with the first favourable
wind. Ip November, .;■< n, great accessions to the uumbers of this bird are observed to take place on our
eastern shores, wbe»re they spread themselves over the entire country, and are frequently to be met with,
in the tetter nai* tv? «be Partridge-season, among the great turnip-fields and low se.dgy flats of Norfolk,
Suffolk, a*d (AmhrWU;< and Huntingdon shires. Certain districts are occasionally overrun with the common
Field-M-.’! u> such an extent that the young plantations would be entirely destroyed, were their numbers
not kept ilw ii bv the Short-eared Owl. Instances are on record o f from ten to twenty being seen together ;
and henev « 1»« been regarded by some as a gregarious bird, which indeed it is, so long as there is an abundance
of tW* kind of food, but no longer : the mice failing, it feeds upon any other small quadrupeds and
birds it mav be able to obtain. Colonel Montagu found the remains o f a Skylark and a Yellowhaiumer in
the stomach o f one be examined, Mr. Thompson the legs o f a Tringa, and Mr. Yarrell a half-grown rat
3 »n-.se terrestrial habits will inform ii„y readers that this is not a woodland bird, like the Loug-ear
add this difference in the situations they frequent, together with certain variations in their u n ic lsn
me to consider them as genetically distinct.
Str William Jardine states, “ On the extensive moors a t the Head of Dryfe, a small rivulet in Dumfriesshire.
1 have, for many years past, met with one o r two pairs o f these birds ; and the accidental discovery
o f their young first turned my attention to the range o f their breeding. The young was discovered