It is found in Europe far into Scandinavia.Then through the Palearctic into Asia Minor, the Caucasus and east to Siberia.

It is widespread at forest edges, forest clearings, shore areas, in gardens, park landscapes and cultivated land and rises in the mountains up to 1600 m. H. rostralis L. Forewing grey brown, sometimes the grey, at others the brown tints predominating, speckled and striated with black and mixed with pale grey; lines black, conversely ochreous-edged; the inner strongly dentate, the outer nearly straight, slightly projecting on each fold; costa with oblique dark striae; median area, and often the basal as well, darker, especially the cell; orbicular stigma a tuft of raised scales, black or black and white, connected by a long black line with an ill-defined black reniform: subterminal line pale, dentate, generally obscure, preceded by a brown shade; an oblique black shade from apex; a row of black terminal lunules; hindwing fuscous grey; the ab.

is suffused with fuscous, the costal streak and a broad submarginal space remaining pale dull ochreous; termen with wedge shaped grey marks, confluent with the fuscous suffusion on the two folds; the lines and stigmata feebly marked: — in ab.

unicolor Tutt the forewing is uniformly grey brown, nearly all the black scaling being absent; — palpalis F. is also unicolorous, but dark grey without any brown tint; — vittatus Haw.

appears to be simply a form in which the costal streak is paler than the rest of the wing; Sometimes the ground colour is ochreous, and when all the markings are well developed as well, we have the ab.