Strix otus [The Long-eared Horned Owl].
Plentiful. I once found a nest of this bird with eggs about the middle of March. See [p. 121].
Strix brachyotus [The Short-eared Owl, Woodcock, or Grass Owl].
A migrating species with us. Specimens are frequently met with by sportsmen when out shooting snipes, woodcocks, etc.
Strix flammea [The Barn Owl].
This bird, though common in England, is very rare with us. I know of only four being procured within twenty-four years. One is in my own collection.
Strix aluco [The Tawny or Brown Owl].
Almost equal in numbers to the long-eared owl, which is plentiful.
Strix nyctea [The Snowy Owl].
One of the most magnificent of the owl tribe. What a splendid and showy bird! I think the term “glistening” or “spangled” might, with all truth and justice, be applied to this shining species. What a noble-looking bird! What beautiful eyes! the pupil dark, and the iris like two rings of the finest burnished gold, set, as it were, in a casket of polished silver. I am glad, nay proud, of being able to give this king of British owls a place in my list, and of being able, perhaps for the first time, to say that at least one pair have been known to breed within the district. A few miles west of Portsoy, and not far from Cullen, stands the bold and towering form of Loggie Head. In connection with this rocky promontory, and about midway up its rugged height, there is a narrow cave or chasm called “Dickie Hare.” In this cave a pair of these owls bred in 1845. Unluckily, however, for them, a party of fishermen belonging to Cullen, returning one morning from their vocation discovered their retreat, by observing one of the birds go in. This was too good to lose sight of, so up the dangerous and jagged precipice scrambled one of the crew, and managed to reach the aperture where the bird disappeared; but instead of only one, as he expected, he was not a little surprised to find that he had four to deal with, two old and two young ones well fledged; and the apartment was so narrow that only one person could enter at a time, so that help was out of the question; and his ambition grasped the whole. What was he to do, or what could he do? Turn?—then the birds would have flown. No! but, just as I would have done had I been in his place, he set upon them all; and, after a prolonged and pretty severe battle, in which he got himself a good deal lacerated and his clothes torn by the claws of the birds, he succeeded in capturing them all alive, except one of the young ones, which fell a sacrifice to the struggle. The state of excitement which the little town was in as the man landed with his prizes, and the news of his morning’s achievement spread, may in some measure be imagined, but can hardly be described.