unknown or uncommon in most wooded districts. It appears
to resort to large woods, in which it makes choice of an old
tree well covered with ivy for a hiding-place; thick plantations
also of evergreens, fir, holly, &c. are favourite haunts,
those of spruce fir more particularly, according to Mr. Selby,
being preferred.
This species of Owl remains in this country throughout the
year. It makes little or no noise, except when young, seldom
moves in the day time, unless disturbed, and then
bustles out, close to you, with every mark of fear and confusion.
It feeds upon rats, moles, -mice, and small birds.
In the stomach of one individual, Mr. Selby found five skulls
of mice; and one I examined contained the remains of a
Goldfinch. It is believed that this Owl obtains small birds
by taking them off their roost.
The Long-eared Owl is said not to make a nest for itself,
but to take to the deserted habitation of some other bird,
when of sufficient size for its own wants ; and has been known
to rear its young in the old drey of a squirrel. The eggs are
four or five in number, oval, smooth, and white; one inch
eight lines and a half long, by one inch three lines and a half
in breadth. The young, hatched by the end of April, are
then covered with white down, and do not quit the nest
during the first month; when they do, Mr. Selby says, « they
take up their abode in some adjoining tree, and, for many
subsequent days, indeed for weeks, may be heard after sunset
uttering a plaintive call for food, during which time the
parent birds are diligently employed in hawking for prey.”
1 he Long-eared Owl inhabits most of the southern and
western counties of England, from Sussex to Cornwall.
According to Mr. Thompson of Belfast, “ it occurs throughout
Ireland, and is resident. Where a sufficient extent of
wood_ exists in the counties of Down and Antrim, it is a common
species. An individual, well acquainted with the Longeared
Owl, said that in a close plantation of spruce firs at
Scoutbush, near Carrickfergus, he for several years had its
nest, which, in consequence of the trees being young, were
placed not higher than six feet from the ground. The contents
of the stomach of a Long-eared Owl, shot at Killaloe,
and examined by the Rev. Thomas Knox, proved to be part
of a rat, the skull of a mouse, and the heads of two Sparrows ;
and a Sparrow almost entire was found in the stomach of one
examined by Mr. Thompson himself. *
This species is found in most of the midland counties of
England, and is noticed by various authors as occurring in
Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham, and Scotland. It
inhabits also Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and the
continent of Europe, from thence southward. In France it
is the most common of all the Owls, and is found in Spain,
Italy, and Turkey. It has been traced as far eastward as
Astrachan, and southward to Trebizond, Egypt, and Africa.
This bird also inhabits most of the United States of America.
According to Dr. Richardson, it has been found as far north
as latitude 60°, and probably exists as high as the forests extend.
Captain Back took one specimen on his last journey.
It frequents Hudson’s Bay in the summer, but retires to the
interior during winter.
The exposed portion of the beak is black; the base and
cere are hid by the feathers of each inner side of the facial
disk ; the irides orange yellow; radiating feathers of the facial
disk on each outer side pale brown, with a half circular
boundary line of darker brown ; on the inner side varied with
dusky brown at the base, and white towards the tip s ; the
tufts on the head an inch and a half in length, are formed of
about seven or eight feathers, longer than wide, dark brownish
black in the middle, with pale brown edges ; top of the head
between the tufts a mixture of brownish black and pale
brown ; nape, round the neck, and the upper part of the back
marked with longitudinal streaks of brownish black on a sur-
* Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. ii. p. 177.