. An illustrated manual of British birds . casionally of bats, fish, reptiles, and large Owl is often seen pursuing its prey in daylight, and it hasbeen known to pick up and carry off wounded birds. The plumage of the upper parts in the adult is similar to thatin the preceding species, but it is more blotched than streaked,the buff tint is more pronounced, the facial disk and the rim arebrowner, and the ear-tufts, though erectile, are short and invisibleexcept when the bird is excited ; the under parts are streaked longi-tudinally with blackish-brown, but not transversely barred o
. An illustrated manual of British birds . casionally of bats, fish, reptiles, and large Owl is often seen pursuing its prey in daylight, and it hasbeen known to pick up and carry off wounded birds. The plumage of the upper parts in the adult is similar to thatin the preceding species, but it is more blotched than streaked,the buff tint is more pronounced, the facial disk and the rim arebrowner, and the ear-tufts, though erectile, are short and invisibleexcept when the bird is excited ; the under parts are streaked longi-tudinally with blackish-brown, but not transversely barred or vermicu-lated ; bill black; operculum semicircular. Length 14-15 in. ; wingabout 12 in. ; the female being slightly larger than the male. Theyoung bird is browner and darker, with bolder markings, and is verytawny on the under parts, while the iris is pale sulphur instead of richyellow. Pallid forms are not uncommon, and specimens from differ-ent parts of the enormous area inhabited by this Owl vary consider-ably in tint. 287. THE TAWNY OWL. SvRNiUM ALUCO (). The Tawny, Brown, or \Vood-0\vl is still, in spite of molestation,tolerably abundant in England and Wales wherever there are woodsor crags suited to its habits ; it is in fact much commoner in someplaces than the White or Barn-Owl, though in others rapidly decreas-ing. In the south of Scotland it is a well-known species, and of lateyears it has extended its range on the mainland to Caithness andSutherland, while in the west it occurs in Skye and some of theInner Hebrides. In Ireland, strange to say, its presence has notyet been authenticated. From the Faeroes this species was recorded in January and againin March 1871 ; on the latter occasion it was migrating in companywith some Long-eared Owls. In Norway it is numerous up to theTrondhjems-fjord, above which it becomes rare; but in Sweden itsnorthern range is, as usual, less extensive, though the bird is verycommon in the southern parts of that countr
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