LAND BIRDS. 305 



Distribution. — Throughout North America and much of South America; 

 nearly cosmopolitan. Breeds, somewhat irregularly and locally, from 

 about latitude 39° northward. 



This owl differs widely in its habits from all other Michigan owls, since 

 it is found only in open ground, and roosts and nests invariably on the 

 ground. Although we have seen hundreds of these birds, we have never yet 

 seen one perched on a bush or tree and but rarely on a fence or post. 



We do not recall any note uttered by this owl, and believe that ordinarily 

 it is entirely silent. IMajor Bendire says that while hunting at evening a 

 faint squeak, like that of a mouse, was the only note heard, but while ex- 

 amining a nest one of the birds "uttered a weak whistling sort of note 

 two or three times." 



They are most often seen in October or November when flushed from 

 the long grass where they are resting during the day, after gorging them- 

 selves on field mice. They have a habit of gathering in some numbers 

 in places where the fields are overrun with these mice, and sometimes 

 a score or more may be found within the compass of a few acres. When 

 started by day they fly somewhat irregularly, often circling about the 

 intruder, and generally alight again after a flight of 200 or 300 yards. 

 After sunset they may be seen flying back and forth over grass lands very 

 much in the manner of a Marsh Hawk. 



In Michigan this is an abundant owl in autumn, probably the most so 

 of any, unless it be the common Screech Owl. It is distributed somewhat 

 unevenly, so that in some regions it is abundant and in other places it may 

 be almost unknown, yet anyone who hunts quail is almost sure to run 

 across it at least once or twice each fall. It also winters occasionally within 

 our limits. It is a species of wide distribution, ranging from arctic regions 

 southward in winter at least to Panama, and very likely much farther, 

 since it has been recorded from Brazil, Chile and Argentine Repubhc. The 

 writer found it rather common on the Lower Uruguay river, Arg. Rep., in 

 May and June, 1880 (winter months), which would seem to show that it 

 nested still farther south (Auk, 1, 1884, 29). Being a bird of remarkable 

 powers of flight and endurance it has been found frequently on islands far 

 from land (in one instance on the Hawaiian Islands), and occasionally 

 it has been known to rest on vessels when hundreds of miles from shore. 



Doubtless the greater number seen in Michigan are migrants, and nest 

 considerably to the northward of us, yet a few undoubtedly rear their young 

 each year within our limits. The nest is placed on the ground, usually 

 among bushes or clumps of coarse weeds, and the five or six pure white, 

 unspotted eggs are laid commonly in May, but sometimes not until June. 

 They average 1.59 by 1.23 inches. 



We have few records of its nesting in the state, but this is not surprising 

 when we consider its scarcity in summer and that few observers visit the 

 places where it is likely to be found at that season. Covert records a nest 

 found near Ann Arbor, May 3, 1877, and Butler records a nest in Indiana, 

 with three young and two eggs. May 6, 1890, and anotlier on the same date 

 with three eggs. Mr. John Uphaus tells me that he found several young 

 of this species, just able to fly, sitting around on stumps in an open part 

 of Freedom Swamp, Washtenaw county, May 30, 1903. Mr. J. Claire Wood 

 writes that in the summer of 1906 he took two young of this species in the 

 down, in Wayne county, and Mr. Norman A. Wood informs me that a hunter 

 once told him of a pair nesting in a marsh in the Portage Lake region, 

 Washtenaw county. "On June 25, 1907, three young, still in the down, 

 39 



