70 C. II. Merriam — Birds of Connecticut. 



said to take possession of the deserted nests of Crows and Hawks. 

 "Mr. J. S. Brandigee, of Berlin, Conn., fonnd a nest, early in April, 

 in a hemlock tree, situated in a thick dark evergreen woods. The 

 nest was flat, made of coarse sticks, and contained four fresh eggs."* 

 Have taken it, in company with the following species, in clumps of 

 low bushes near the coast. 



148. Brachyotus palustris (Bechst.) dould. Short-eared Owl. 



Resident about the salt marshes near the coast; also found through- 

 out the State. Nests on the ground. Not uncommon. In the year 

 1856, on the island of Grand JNlenan, "A nest of this bird was found 

 by Mr. C-abot 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 ]>resented hardly any excavation. "f 



149. Syrnium Cinereum (Gmeliu) Audubon. Great Gray Owl. 



A rare straggler from the north. Linsley captured a specimen at 

 Stratford, Conn., Jan„ 6, 184;}. J 



During the winter of 1852 a large Great Gray Owl was killed near 

 Boston, Mass., after creating some little excitement among the inhab- 

 itants : "A light snow fell on Sunday evening, March 21st, and the 

 next morning mysterious footprints were discovered in the vicinity of 

 Nahant street and Long Beach. They were of a shape that excited 

 much curiosity, and no one was able to determine what sort of a 

 creature had made them. But on Monday evening Mr. John Barry 

 shot a very large gray owl, on the marsh, near the foot of Pleasant 

 street, and it was concluded that the wonderful tracks were made by 

 him. He measured more than five feet from tip to tip of the wings."§ 



1 50. Syrnium nebulOSUm (Forster) Boie. Barred Owl. 



A common resident throughout the State. Mr. J. N. Clark, of 

 Saybrook, Conn., tells me that he once found it breeding, in a hollow 

 tree, within twenty-five rods of the nest of a pair of Great Horned 

 Owls. 



* Baird, Brewer & Ridgway, vol. iii, p. 22, 18'74. 



\ A List of Birds observed at Grand Menan and at Yarmouth, N. S., June 16 to 

 July 8, 1856. Proceed. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, p. 115. March, 1857. 

 \ Am. Jour. Sci. and Arts, vol. xliv, No. 2, p. 253. April, 1843. 

 § History of Lynn, Mass., pp. 432-3, 1865. 



