eggs, may, though not generally credited, be true after all.
Another singular statement with regard to this Owl is one
made to Mr. Gurney, by the late M. Favier of Tangiera
(Ibis, 1862, p. 27), to the effect that in the neighbourhood
of that place it sometimes pairs and breeds with a very
distinct species, the Otus capensis of Sir Andrew Smith—
the hybrids presenting an appearance intermediate between
the two, even to the colour of the irides.
The Short-eared Owl is well known in most if not all of the
counties of Great Britain, and is a regular winter-visitant to
Ireland. I t seems to have occurred in Iceland, and at one
season or another inhabits the whole continent of Europe and
the greater part of Asia, reaching to Japan. In China it
has been obtained as far south as Canton, and is by no
means uncommon in Assam and British Burma. Mr. Gurney
has received it from Singapore. As a winter-visitant it is
said to be distributed by myriads over the plains of India,
but does not seem to extend to Ceylon. Further westward
it can be traced through Bochara and Mesopotamia and,
though not abundant, occurs in Palestine. I t is a winter-
visitant in Egypt, sometimes appearing singly and sometimes
in large companies, going as far south as Abyssinia.
In the same character also it occurs in the islands of the
Mediterranean and in Algeria, and it is found in Morocco.
The Zoological Society has received a living example from
Natal.
In the New World it occurs in Greenland though, according
to Professor Reinhardt, a scarce bird there. I t is a summer
visitor to Newfoundland and to the Fur-Countries of North
America, arriving as soon as the snow disappears and
departing in September at the close of the breeding-season,
when it is spread over the greater part of the continent,
occirrring in Guatemala and, according to Señor Lembeye,
in the island of Cuba. In South America it is also found
in the basin of the Rio de la Plata and thence to the Straits
of Magellan. According to Mr. W. H. Hudson (Proc. Zool.
Soc. 1870, p. 800), it is generally distributed over and breeds
on the pampas near Buenos Ayres, where, owing to the
greater extent of land cultivated of late years, and the consequent
increase of mice, it has become more abundant
than formerly. Mr. Darwin met with it in the Falklands
where Captain Abbott was informed that it bred, and
Prof. Cunningham obtained it in Tierra del Fuego. I t
is right, however, to remark that the Short-eared Owl of
America has been by some ornithologists regarded as distinct
from that of the Old World; but in the opinion of those
who have had the greatest experience no constant difference
can be maintained. In like manner the Sliort-eared Owl of
the Galapagos has also been described as distinct, but there
cannot be much doubt of its specific identity with the subject
of this article, of which Mr. Gurney has seen typical examples
from the Sandwich Islands, while D’Orbigny states that it
occurs in the Ladrones.
The head of this species is small compared with that of
Owls generally; the tufts about three-quarters of an inch
long, formed of three or four feathers, which can be elevated
or depressed at pleasure ; the beak is dark liorn-colour; the
irides golden-yellow; the feathers forming the facial disk,
almost black at the base, but lighter and mixed with brown
towards the end, those pointing in the direction of the beak
hiding the cere; the disk surrounded by a whitish border ;
top of the head, neck, back and wings, patched with very
dark brown : the feathers edged with fawn-colour; wing-
coverts with a few roundish spots of yellowish-white; primaries
pale reddish-brown, barred with dark brown, and
ending with speckled ash-grey; tail-feathers buff, with five
transverse bars of very dark brown ; chin white; all the
under surface pale buff, with longitudinal patches of blackisli-
brown on the neck and breast, and streaks of the same on
the belly and flanks; legs, and toes above covered with short,
uniform, hair-like, pale buff feathers; toes naked beneath ;
claws almost black.
The -whole length from fourteen to fifteen inches. Wings,
when closed, reaching beyond the end of the tail. The
females are largest; but the difference in the plumage of
the sexes is not very obvious. Pale varieties are not rare.