LONG—EA R ED OWL.
LONG-EAKED OWL.
ASIO OTUS (Linn.).
Strix otus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 132 (1766); Naum. i. p. 451.
Asio otus, Macg. iii. p. 453 ; Yarr. ed. 4, i. p. 158; Dresser,
v. p. 251.
Otus vulgaris, Hewitson, i. p. 55.
Hibou vulgaire, French; Ohr-Eule, German; Carabo,
Bubo, Spanish.
This handsome Owl is tolerably abundant, though
extremely local, throughout the United Kingdom, but
prefers, so far as my own experience goes, thick plantations
of coniferous trees to any other localities. In
West Norfolk and Suffolk the Long-eared Owl would
be, if unmolested, exceedingly common; I have frequently
seen from ten to a dozen of these birds in the
course of a day’s shooting in those districts, but I grieve
to add that on one occasion prominently in my memory,
several members of our party, not imbued with that love
for Owls that inspires me, were guilty of the blood of
thesu very beautiful birds. The eggs of this species,
generally four or five in number, are usually laid early
in March in an old nest of Crow, Magpie, Wood-Pigeon,