300 MICHIGAN BUU) LIFE. 



disgorged pellets of its own undigested food, the eggs are laid and the young 

 reared. It has been known to nest in hollow trees, and even in crevices 

 of cliffs or holes in sand-banks, but ordinarily it prefers the vicinity of a 

 human habitation, and that doubtless has given it the name Barn Owl. 

 The eggs, like those of all owls, are white and unspotted, and measure 

 1.65 by 1.31 inches. The number is very variable, ranging from three to 

 ten, and not infrequently fresh eggs and newly hatched young are found 

 together. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Legs long :uid .slender, the shank (tarsus) covered with short feathers above and with 

 bristly, hair-like feathers toward the foot; outer toe reversible, as in all owls; the claw of 

 the middle toe pectinate (with a comb) on its inner edge (unique among our owls); facial 

 disk narrowed and elongated, giving the bird a weird, impish expression, like that of a 

 monkey or an old thin-faced man; none of the primaries emarginate on irmer web. General 

 color of plumage above ocher-yellow, silvered with grayish white and sprinkled with con- 

 spicuous dashes or spots, about half of each spot being black and the other pure white; 

 under parts pure white, creamy white, or deep bufT, thinly speckled with dusky; bill yellow- 

 ish-white; iris dark brown; primaries with four to six dusky bars on inner webs; tail with 

 four or five narrow blackish bars, most obvious on upper surface. 



Sexes of nearly the same size (unusual in birds of prey). Length 15 to 21 inches; wing 

 12.50 to 14; tail 5.70 to 7.50. 



Family 41. STRlGlDiE. Horned Owls, Screech Owls, and others. 



This family includes all our Michigan owls except the Barn Owl, ten 

 species in all. For key to species see page 297. 



150. Long-eared Owl. Asio wilsonianus (Less.). (366) 



Synonyms: American Long-cared Owl, Lesser Horned Owl. — Otus wilsonianus, Less., 

 1830. — Otus americanus, Bonap. — Strix otus, Wils., Aud. — Otus viJgaris, Jard. — Otus 

 vulgaris var. wilsonianus, Ridgw., 1872, B. B. & R., 1875. 



Figure 79. 



We have in Michigan only three species of owls which have conspicuous 

 ear-tufts, namely, the Great-horned Owl, the Long-eared Owl and the 

 Screech Owl, or Mottled Owl. The first is a very large bird whose wings 

 expand from four to five feet; the last a small one whose wings expand 

 little more than a foot. The Long-eared Owl is but slightly heavier than 

 the Screech Owl, but its measurements exceed it noticeably. It may also 

 be separated from that species by its proportionally much longer tail. 



Distribution. ^Temperate North America; south to the table lands of 

 Mexico. Breeds throughout its range. 



This does not seem to be an abundant owl in Michigan. In the southern 

 half of the state it is by no means uncommon, but we have practically no 

 records from the northern half of the Lower Peninsula, and but one (Munis- 

 ing, June, 1906) from the Upper Peninsula. This may be due to the fact 

 that the ordinary observer confounds the Long-eared Owl with the Screech 

 Owl, but if this bird occurs in any numbers in the north it should have 

 been reported by some of the good observers who have collected at various 

 points there. Mr. Newell A. Eddy of Bay City states that he has but a 

 single record for that region. It is not recorded by Dunham for Kalkaska 



