and its nest on one of the highest hills of that country on the
17th of May. The nest contained an addled egg and two
young birds : these last were of small size, with a soft whitish
covering like wool. On the 16th of June he found two
other young birds of the same species which were nearly full
grown, but unable to fly. In these young specimens the bill
was black; irides saffron yellow; pupil bluish black ; the
general plumage soft; the wings dark, with reddish brown
spots; feathers of the breast brick red, with a dark indented
longitudinal stripe ; tail-feathers still short, dark, with roundish
red spots ; feet reddish brown.
Owls have been noticed for an extraordinary attachment
to their young. An instance in point was witnessed by a
Swedish gentleman, who resided several years on a farm
near a steep mountain, on the summit of which two Eagle
Owls had built their nest. One day in the month of July,
a young bird, having quitted the nest, was caught by the
servants. This bird was, considering the season of the year,
well feathered; but the down appeared here and there between
those feathers which had not yet attained their full
growth. After it was caught, it was shut up in a large hencoop,
when to his surprise, on the following morning, a fine
young Partridge was found lying dead before the door of the
coop. I t was immediately concluded that this provision had
been brought there by the old Owls, which no doubt had
been making search in the night time for their lost young
one. And such was, indeed, the fact; for night after night*
for fourteen days, was this same mark of attention repeated.
The game which the old ones carried to it consisted chiefly of
young Partridges, for the most part newly killed, but sometimes
a little spoiled. On one occasion, a Moor-fowl was
brought, so fresh that it was actually warm under the wings ;
and at another time, a putrid stinking lamb was deposited.” *
* Familiar History of Birds, by the Rev. E. Stanley, Bishop of Norwich
vol. l. p. 184. ’
In the southern and western counties of England, the
Great Eagle Owl has been obtained in Kent, Sussex, and
Devonshire ; in the counties north of London, it is recorded
as having been taken in Suffolk, Yorkshire, and Durham.
The only record of the Eagle Owl’s occurrence in Ireland,
according to Mr. Thompson,* appears in Mr. Stewart’s
Catalogue of the Birds of Donegal, in the following words :
—u Four of these birds paid us a visit for two days, after a
great storm from the north, when the ground was covered
with snow. They have not since been seen here. As I am
informed that a pair of them breed in Tory Island, about
nine miles to the north of this coast, it is probable that they
came from that island. I have heard of them nowhere
else.”
This bird inhabits Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Lapland,
Russia, and the continent of Europe generally, but particularly
the fir-covered mountains of Switzerland, and the high
rocky country of Aragon, extending southward as far as
Italy and Turkey. Mr. Strickland saw specimens at Smyrna,
and it is recorded as inhabiting the Morea. Pennant says
it is found as far to the eastward as Lake Baikal and Astra-
chan; and Mr. Gould has seen skins of this bird in collections
from China.
I t is well known as a species here, being constantly exhibited
in various menageries, where it is mostly quiet, uttering
no sound except an occasional sharp and snapping noise made
with the bill. Our figure was taken from a bird in the
Garden of the Zoological Society, and the description from
specimens in the Museum. The beak is nearly black, the
base of it hid by the radiating feathers forming the inner
portion of the facial disk ; irides bright orange; the tufts on
the head contain seven or eight dark-coloured feathers, with
light brown bars on the inner webs ; the head, neck, and back,
* Mag. of Zool. and Bot. vol. ii. p. 176.