STRIGID.E — THE OWLS. 27 



move, and then she hopped away, and would not fly, returning to her nest 

 as soon as lie left the spot. The pellets disgorged liy the Owl, and found 

 near her nest, were found to consist of the bones of small quadrupeds 

 mixed with hair, and the wings of se\^eral kinds of coleopterous insects. 



This bird was found breeding near the coast of jS'ew Jersey by Mr. Kri- 

 der; and at Hamilton, Canada, on the western shore of Lake Ontario, Mr. 

 Mcllwraith speaks of its being more common than any other Owl. 



A nest found by Mr. Cabot was in the midst of a dry peaty bog. It was 

 built on the ground, in a very slovenly manner, of small sticks and a few 

 feathers, and presented hardly any excavation. It contained four eggs on 

 the point of being hatched. A young bird the size of a Robin was also 

 found lying dead on a tussock of grass in another similar locality. 



The notes of I\Ir. MacFarlane supply memoranda of twelve nests found 

 by him in the Anderson River country. They were all placed on the ground, 

 in various situations. One was in a small clump of dwarf willows, on the 

 ground, and composed of a few decayed leaves. Another nest was in a very 

 small hole, lined with a little hay and some decayed leaves. This was on a 

 barren plain of some extent, fifty miles east of Fort Anderson, and on the edge 

 of the wooded country. A third was in a clump of Labrador Tea, and was 

 similar to the preceding, except that the nest contained a few feathers. 

 This nest contained seven eggs, — the largest number found, and only in 

 this case. A fourtli was in an artificial depression, evidently scratched out 

 by the parent bird. Feathers seem to have been noticed in about half the 

 nests, and in all cases to have been taken by the parent from her own 

 breast. Nearly all the nests were in depressions made for the purpose. 



Mr. Dall noticed the Short-eared Owl on the Yukon and at Nulato, and 

 Mr. Bannister observed it at St. Michael's, where it was a not uufrequent 

 visitor. In his recent Notes on the Avi-fauna of the Aleutian Islands, (Pr. 

 Cal. Academy, 1873,) Dall informs us that it is resident on Unalashka, and 

 that it excavates a hole horizontally for its nesting-place, — usually to a 

 distance of about two feet, the fartlier end a little the higher. The extrem- 

 ity is lined with dry grass and featliers. As there are no trees in the island, 

 the bird was often seen sitting on the "round, near the mouth of its bur- 

 row, even in the daytime. Mr. Ridgway found this bird in winter in Cali- 

 fornia, but never met with it at any season in the interior, where the 

 0. wilsonianus was so aljundant. 



Tlie eggs of this Owl are of a uniform dull white color, which in the 

 unblown egg is said to have a bluish tinge ; they are in form an elliptical 

 ovoid. The eggs obtained by Mr. Cabot measured 1.56 inches in length 

 and 1.25 in breadth. The smallest egg collected by Air. MacFarlane meas- 

 ured 1.50 by 1.22 inches. The largest taken by Mr. B. R. Ross, at Fort 

 Simpson, measures 1.60 by 1.30 inclies ; their average measurement is 1.57 

 by 1.28 inches. An egg of the European bird measures 1.55 by 1.30 

 inches. 



