[f. FERN sb.1 + OWL.] a. The Nightjar or Goatsucker, Caprimulgus europæus; b. the Short-eared owl, Asio brachyotus.

1

  a.  1678.  Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., II. iii. § 1. 107. The Fern-owl, or Churn-Owl, or Goat-sucker, Caprimulgus.

2

1793.  G. White, Selborne (1853), II. xxx. 246. Not long after a fern owl was procured.

3

1832–5.  E. Jesse, Glean. Nat. Hist. (1843), 221. The fern-owl, or night-jar.

4

1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 44.

        As slowly the short night went by,
’Midst bittern’s boom and fern-owl’s cry.

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  b.  1885.  Swainson, Prov. Names Brit. Birds, 129. Short-eared owl … Fern-Owl (Ireland).

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