while the structure of the real ear and the form of its conch
are regarded as of considerable value ; and, giving due weight
to the fact that the power of hearing in Owls is very likelv
more acute than in most other birds and is of greater help
to them in procuring their prey than the sense of sight, the
importance attached to the characters therewith connected
does not seem to be exaggerated.
The difficulties which beset the classification of the Strigida
are not limited to the determination of their natural affinities,
but extend to their scientific nomenclature, which has long
been in a most confused state. Under the generic term Strix
Linnaeus arrayed all the Owls known to him, but Brisson
most justifiably divided that genus, and in so doing fixed
upon the Strix aluco of his contemporary as its type.
Though most ornithologists have disregarded that determination
and have retained the original word for the Barn-Owl,
it seems that Brisson’s assignment of the term must, according
to strict rule, be followed, and therefore it is here adopted
for the S. aluco of Linnaeus, the Tawny or Brown Owl.
The Tawny Owl is a common bird in most well-wooded
districts of this country, where its numbers have not been
diminished through persecution, and is strictly nocturnal in
its habits, seldom moving or leaving its place of concealment
during the day, and appears, more than any other
species of Owl, to he incommoded by bright light. I t inhabits
parks abounding in hollow trees, thick woods, or strong
plantations of evergreens, and at nightfall issues forth to
seek its food, sometimes visiting small enclosures about farmhouses,
at others taking a wider range over the neighbouring
fields. I t feeds chiefly 011 small mammals, particularly the
short-tailed field-mice or voles, and the true mice, rats, shrews
and moles, with beetles. I t sometimes takes small birds, and
several writers have proved that this Owl feeds occasionally
on fish, and is able to catch species that swim near the surface
in deep water, as well as those that are to be found among
stones in the shallowest parts of brooks.
The eggs of this species are smooth and white, measuring
from 1*96 to l -68 by l -64 to 1‘43 in. These, to the number
of three or four, are usually deposited in a hole in a tree,
and, according to Mr. Jenyns, are hatched in April. Mr.
C. B. Wharton, however, has recorded (Ibis, 1866, p. 324)
a nest which was placed on the ground, and Mr. Robert Gray
says that it sometimes lays its eggs in the deserted nest of
a Rook. Occasionally here, and in Sweden not unfrequently,
it avails itself of the accommodation afforded by a barn or loft,
in a retired corner of which it will prepare its simple nest.
For a considerable time the young, covered with a greyish-
white down, are fed at home; they afterwards perch among
the branches of trees near the nest, where the parents long
continue to feed them, and, until summer is far advanced,
the call of the Owlets, sounding like the word “ keewick,”
may be heard at intervals from the leafy shade. In captivity
the young of this species are said to be more easily
reared than other Owls, being much less choice in the quality
of their food. The note of the adults, most frequently heard
in the evening and about an hour before dawn, is a loud,
clear hoot, by some persons considered melancholy, but in
the opinion of others more rightly termed by Shakespear
“ Tu-whit! to-who ! A merry note.” In the act of hooting,
the Owls’ throats, as remarked by Gilbert White, “ swell as
big as a hen’s egg.”
The Tawny Owl may be traced through all the counties of
England, but has not been recognized by practised ornithologists
as existing in Ireland. I t occurs also in Scotland,
and there, unlike what is certainly the case in England, it is
said by Mr. Robert Gray to be becoming commoner, owing
to the spread of plantations, so that, from having been a
comparatively scarce species thirty years ago, it is now well
known in suitable haunts from the Border to Ross-sliire,
where it breeds, extending its range even to some of the
Inner Hebrides, as Islay and Mull. Low includes it among
the birds of Orkney that are seen in summer, but not in
winter.
In Norway, according to Herr Collett, the Tawny Owl
is common in the southern and western parts up to the
Trondhjem fjord, and has even been obtained so far to the