290 SHOBT-EABED OWL 



Short-eared Owl: Asio accipitrinus. 



(Plate XXIII.) 



Geographic Distribution. — Nearly cosmopolitan, breeding 

 in the United States locally from Virginia and Illinois north- 

 ward. 



This Owl differs widely from its relatives. It 

 is much less nocturnal, and rarely even alights on 

 a tree. It is a bird of the marshes and flies near 

 the ground, like the Marsh Hawk. It lives mainly 

 on meadow mice, gophers, grasshoppers, crickets, 

 and other insects, and deserves the fullest protec- 

 tion. 



A strong piece of evidence in its favor is found 

 in Yarrell's ' British Birds.' " Undoubtedly field 

 mice, and especially those of the short-tailed group 

 or voles, are their chief objects of prey, and when 

 these animals increase in an extraordinary and 

 unaccountable way, as they sometimes do, so as to 

 become extremely mischievous. Owls, particularly 

 of this species, flock to devour them. Thus there 

 are records of a ' sore plague of strange mice ' in 

 Kent and Essex in the year 1580 or 1581, and 

 again in the county last mentioned in 1648. In 

 1754 the same thing is said to have occurred at 

 Hilgay, near Downham Market, in Norfolk ; while 

 within the present century the Forest of Dean, in 

 Gloucestershire, and some parts of Scotland have 

 been similarly infested. In all these cases. Owls 

 are mentioned as thronging to the spot, and ren- 



