have more than once seen a dozen or more during a
day’s shooting.
The Short-eared Owl is a very powerful flyer, and, as
he often hunts not only by daylight, but in bright sunny
weather, it is evident that his vision is better adapted
for diurnal operations than is the case with our other
British Owls. The nest of this bird when situated on
dry heath-lands is merely a scraping of the earth, but in
the fens the eggs are often laid upon a few pieces of
broken reed-stems, with occasionally a few leaves of that
plant, or blades of broad sedge; the eggs are pure white,
and vary in number from four to six. This is one of
the most useful of birds, as its favourite prey are the
noxious voles that infest our low-lying lands.
