LAND BIRDS. 301 



county, nor was it found by Otto Widmann, or by the writer, in Emmet 

 county. Major Boies did not find it on Neebish Island or along the St. 

 Mary's River, not has it been reported by Osborn, Melville or Steere from 

 Sault Ste. Marie. It does not occur in Kneeland's Hst of the Birds of 

 Keweenaw Point, nor did O. B. Warren find it during several years of 

 observation at Palmer, Marquette county. Other observers in Marquette 

 county have failed to report it, and the writer did not see or hear of it during 

 a week's collecting in Marquette, Alger and Chippewa counties. Finally, 

 it was not found by any of the Biological Survey expeditions to Ontonagon 

 county, Dickinson county, or Isle Royale. 



Of course this does not prove that it does not occur in any or all of these 

 counties, and we know that the bird is naturally secretive and its protective 

 coloration enables it to escape observation very easily. Nevertheless it 

 is singular that we do not have other records from this large section of the 

 state. In looking over the notes relating to the Lower Peninsula one is 

 struck with the paucity of recent records, and it seems not unlikely that 

 this is one of the species which has been decreasing in numbers of late. 



The Long-eared Owl is believed to nest wherever found, and the great 

 majority of eggs found have been laid in old crow's nests which have l)een 

 more or less repaired for the purpose. Ordinarily the nest is placed at a 

 height of ten to forty feet from the ground and the eggs would seem to be 

 laid C{uite early in the season, often early in April, although Mr. E. B. Schrage 

 of Pontiac, took a set of five eggs May 11, 1898. A set of four taken by 

 Jerome Trombley, in Monroe county. May 14, 1889 were almost ready to 

 hatch, and Dr. Gibbs reports a nest of young ready to fly May 22, 1878 at 

 Kalamazoo. He also mentions six eggs of this species collected near 

 Kalamazoo April 27, 1878 by A. Chambers. A nest found by Norman A. 

 Wood, May 20, 1907, in a tamarack tree at Portage Lake, Washtenaw 

 county, contained two young in the down. Leon J. Cole found a young 

 one, more than half grown, at Chandler's Marsh, Ingham county. May 31, 

 1897. 



Mr. Amos Butler says that in Indiana the birds begin laying in March or 

 April and that incubation begins with the first egg laid and lasts about three 

 weeks (Birds of Indiana, p. 804). Major Bendire states that the Long- 

 eared Owl rarely constructs a nest of its own; fully three-fourths of the 

 nests he has found were old nests of the Crow. This species is generally 

 supposed to rear but one brood, yet there are some facts to show that it 

 sometimes rears two broods in a season, and like most other birds of prey 

 when robbed of its eggs it will lay a second set in the same nest or at least 

 in the same vicinity. The eggs are from three to six in number, pure white, 

 unspotted, and average 1.66 by 1.28 inches. 



The food consists very largely of mice and other rodents, and although 

 a few birds are eaten they are mostly seed-eaters and the harm so done is 

 not serious. Of 92 stomachs reported upon by Dr. A. K. Fisher, 1 contained 

 a game bird (quail); 15, other birds; 84, mice; 5, other mammals; and 1, 

 insects. About 50 "pellets" of this species, collected at IMunson Hill, 

 Virginia by Dr. Fisher, yielded 176 skulls, of which all but 13 were mammals. 

 Among these were 95 meadow mice, 19 pine mice, L5 house mice, 5 white- 

 footed mice, 3 Cooper's mice and 26 shrews. Of the ot her skulls, 1 1 were 

 sparrows, 1 a Bluebird, and the other a warbler. 



It is hardly necessary to add that this owl is decidedly beneficial to the 

 agricultui-ist and should ])e rigidly protected. 



Major Bendire says that "except during the mating season it is rather 



