LONG-EARED OWL 153 



October 4, 1923, a. second caught alive in a garage in Portland on 

 October 26, 1927, while the third was captured on Moshers Island, 

 Cumberland County, about December 10, 1927. 



Egg dates. — California: 100 records, January 17 to June 7; 50 

 records, March 9 to April 16, indicating the height of the season. 



Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware: 40 records, February 22 

 to October 31 ; 20 records, April 9 to May 3 ; young, January 12. 



South Carolina and Georgia: 14 records, March 17 to December 24; 

 7 records, March 30 to September 23. 



Florida: One record, December 12. 



Family STRIGIDAE: Typical Owls 



ASIO WILSONIANUS (Lesson) 

 LONG-EARED OWL 



Plates 31-37 

 HABITS 



As the American long-eared owl is now regarded as a species distinct 

 from the European long-eared owl, it seems to me that the above name 

 is misleading; the name American long-eared owl would be more 

 appropriate and would indicate the distinction. Wilson and Audubon 

 regarded the two as identical. They are evidently closely related 

 and bear considerable resemblance to each other. Baird, Brewer, 

 and Ridgway (1905) regarded the American bird as a variety, or 

 subspecies, of the European bird and described the differences in the 

 color patterns. The reader is also referred to Dr. H. C. Oberholser's 

 (1922) discussion of this subject. 



The American long-eared owl enjoys a wide distribution over nearly 

 all the United States and the timbered regions of Canada, including 

 the tree belts along the streams on the western plains and even on the 

 deserts. It can hardly be classed as a bird of the deep forests, as it 

 may be found wherever it can find the tree growth sufficiently dense 

 to give it shelter for its nest and concealment during the day. I believe 

 it prefers dense groves of coniferous trees, where these are to bo found ; 

 in Massachusetts I have always found it in such places; but on the 

 plains and prairies of the West, and on the arid plains and deserts of 

 the Southwest, it seems equally at home in the deciduous timber 

 belts around the lakes and along the streams, where it seems to be 

 more abundant than in the East and, in some places, almost gregarious. 



S. F. Rathbun writes to me that in eastern Washington "it appears 

 partial to valleys of streams that have a growth of cottonwoods, 

 alders, and similar trees, with thickets of various kinds, for many of 

 the latter have a heavy growth of climbing vines and this owl seems 

 to like the density of such places. In one such place, during the 



13751—38 11 



