488 FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY ZOOLOGY, VOL. IX. 



175. Asio flammeus (PONTOPPIDAN). 

 SHORT-EARED OWL. 



Asio accipitrinus (Pall.), A. O. U. Check List, 1895, p. 142. 



Distr.: North America; breeds from about latitude 39 north- 

 ward. 



Adult: Ear tufts, very short, hardly noticeable in some specimens; 

 first and second primaries, notched; general plumage, streaked and 



Short-eared Owl. 



marked with dark brown and tawny; belly, streaked; primaries and 

 tail, barred with dark brown and tawny; facial disk, whitish, more 

 or less speckled and marked with black around the eye ; iris, yellow. 



Sexes, similar. 



Length, about 14.75; wm g> I2 to 13; tail, 6. 



This species is common in spring and fall in Illinois and Wisconsin 

 during the migrations, and 'a not uncommon resident throughout 

 the year. It frequents the prairies and marshes. It has been found 

 nesting in Cook County, Illinois (Kennicott), and Mr. F. M. Woodruff 

 found it breeding "a few miles south of Chicago, at Lowell, Indiana." 

 (Bull. Chicago Acad. of Sciences, No. VI, 1907, p. 102.) 



The nest is usually built on the ground and consists of a little grass 



