SHORT-EARED OWL 



A MARSH MOUSER 



{Fig. 1 8) 



HE books tell us that the Short-eared 

 Owl Is nearly cosmopolitan. Which 

 means that it may be found from 

 the bleak Arctic tundra of Canada 

 to the wind-swept plains of Pata- 

 gonia, in Europe, in Asia and 

 Africa, and on remote oceanic islands. What an 

 incalculable number of years his kind must have 

 lived to become so widely distributed over the 

 earth's surface! 



Unlike most Owls, he shuns the forest and lives 

 In marshy, grassy places. During the winter we are 

 apt to find him near the coast. He arises from the 

 grasses almost at our feet and flies silently to some 

 stump or little knoll to watch us as we approach. 



Occasionally he may be seen by day beating low 

 over the marsh in search of the meadow-mice which 

 form the largest part of his fare. Perhaps the fact 

 that these mice are active by day accounts for the 



Owl's diurnal habits. 



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