its greatest development, since the skull itself is affected
thereby. In the present species, as figured below, and some
others the anomaly, though sufficiently remarkable, is confined
to the exterior, the skull remaining symmetrical. But
even this curious feature has been noticed by very few writers,
and by none, apparently, of our own countrymen. Klein
in his ‘ Historiæ Avium Prodromus,’ published in 1750, was
the first to announce it (p. 54). I t w a s described, as it exists
in the Long-eared and Short-eared Owls, in the ‘ Mémoires
de la Société Royale des Sciences de Liège ’ (vol. i. pp.
121-124 pl. 8), by Professor Van Beneden, who figured both
ears of the former. In ‘The Zoologist’ for 1845 (pp. 1019,
1020) M. Deby again described the structure in the latter,
which seems to be the first allusion to the subject in an
English publication. Later, Dr. Kaup mentioned the peculiarity,
as observed by him in several species, in liis “ Monograph
of the Owls,” originally contained in the ‘ Contributions
to Ornithology ’ for 1852, and reprinted, with corrections, in
the ‘Transactions of the Zoological Society’ (vol. iv.), where
the right and left conchs of the Tawny Owl, the Little Owl
and that which is next to be described, are figured.
ACCI PITRES. RTRIG1DÆ.
Asio a c c i p i t r in u s (Pallas*).
THE SHORT-EARED OWL.
Otus brachyotos+.
T h e S h o r t - e a r e d Ow l is not only pretty numerous as a
species, but is also very widely diffused. Unlike the species
last described, which haunts woods, this bird frequents wide
open fields,, extensive heaths, moors and fens, seldom peiching
upon trees but resting on the ground. A large proportion of
the examples seen in this country are winter-visitors that
come from the North of Europe in October, and have in consequence
been called Woodcock-Owls. There are few spoilsmen
who, when Partridge-shooting, have not met with this
Owl, occasionally in companies of from hali-a-dozen to a
* Stryx accipitrina, Pallas, Reiseu u.s.w. i. p. 455 (171 1).
+ Strix brachyotos, J. R. Forster, Phil. Trans, lxii. p. 384 (1772).