February, 1S93.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



Nests the last of March and early part of 

 April. 



Use an old Crow's nest from i:; to .^o feet 

 from ground. 



Average number of eggs, five, but six are 

 not uncommon. 



Has collected about 20 sets, some of 

 them in Fulton County. 



Eggs are same shape at both ends. 



C. /*. Fore, Clark County, Mo. 



Resident, but not common. 



Nest found May 4, 1889 ; an old Crow's 

 nest in a dense scrub oak thicket, 12 feet 

 from ground. 



No addition except a few feathers from 

 the breast of the owl. 



Set 1-5; 1.65x1.25; incubation well 

 advanced. 



Burtis H. Wilson, Davenport, Iowa. 



Resident, more abundant in winter than 

 summer ; 20 or more make their homes in 

 the evergreens in a cemetery. Breeds spar- 

 ingly in rather open, second growth, oak- 

 timber. 



Nests in deserted Crows' nests. 



April 12,1890,5 eggs, slightly incubated. 



Birds observed in Cook County by Rob- 

 ert Kennicott in 1853-55. (Trans. 111., 

 State Agric. Soc), i Long-eared Owl. 

 Common ; known to nest in Cook Coimty. 



Catalogue of birds of 111., Robert Ridg- 

 way. 



Bulletin of the 111. Museum of Nat. His., 

 Vol. I. 



Long-eared Owl, resident, breeds. 



" O. & O.," Vol. 9. July and .\ugust, 

 1884. 



Birds collected near St. Louis, Mo. No. 



73- 



y/iliits Hitrter. 



Long-eared Owl, transient. 



Jan. 30, flock of 30 in one tree. 



" Birds of Northeastern 111.," E. \V. Nel- 

 son. 



Long-eared Owl. Not common, resident. 

 Remains during the day in willow thickets 

 and in similar situations. 



"Birds of Carroll Coimtv, Indiana," B. 

 W . Everman. 



Long-eared Owl. Seemingly a rare win- 

 ter visitor. I have specimens obtained |an- 

 uary 29, 1884, P^bruary 5, 1886, Januarv 

 14, 1888. 



We have recei\ed reports on this bird from 

 a .strip of country running from north to 

 south across the entire State, but the eastern 

 half from Cook County down is entirely \ a- 

 cant except for the birtls of Carroll County, 

 Ind., which is across the line from Vermil- 

 lion. 



Again on the west a strip is \acant along 

 the Mississippi River, wider in the middle 

 of the State than at the north and south. 



From the reports I get a variety of opin- 

 ions, but conclude it is resident throughout 

 the State except in the counties below the 

 mouth of Illinois River, where it is a winter 

 visitant and perhajis a rare resident, as only 

 one observer has found it in any numbers, 

 Philo Smith, in Bond County, who rejjorts 

 over 20 nests. 



One reason this bird is not better known 

 is that collectors do not know where to look 

 for it. I think it can be found in almost 

 any grove of pine trees, north of the southern 

 third of the State, at some time of the year. 

 I have often seen as many as a hundred in 

 a grove of my father's, containing about 

 5,000 "scotch pines," perhaps 20 feet high. 

 They would occupy several trees close to- 

 gether, but would sometimes be in several 

 flocks, always returning in a short time to 

 their roosting place when disturbed. 



The food of this Owl consists of Mice so 

 far as I can discover. I have examined very 

 carefully the i)ellets found beneath their 

 roosting places and ha\e examined a nest 

 containing young nearly every day while 

 they remained in the nest, and neither in 

 the pellets or nest did I find any traces of 

 anything but Mice, two or three of which 

 could always be found in the nest. 



The mice were the common or house 

 mouse, the white-breasted and the short- 



