70 NORTH AMERICAN OOLOGY. PART I. 



Woodliouse did not observe this bird in the expedition to the Zuili Eiver, nor am I 

 aware that it has ever been obtained in any of our Southern or Southwestern States. 



Very little is known in regard to the habits of these varieties, and not enough to 

 have much influence in determining the question of their non-identity. According 

 to the observations of Sir John Richardson, the principal haunts of the American 

 are dense thickets of yovmg pine-trees, or dark and entangled Avillow-clumps, where 

 it sits on a low branch watching assiduously for mice. When disturbed, it flies for 

 a short distance, and then hides itself in the heart of a bush, whence it is not easily 

 driven. 



On the other hand, we learn that the European bird, unlike the short-eared spe- 

 cies of North America, which thus hides itself in large woods or dense plantations, 

 " frequents wide, open fields, extensive commons, heaths, and moors." In the Ork- 

 ney Islands, the European Owl "forms an artless nest among the heath." Sir 

 William Jardine, describing two nests of that Owl which he met with in Dumfries- 

 shire, says : " They were formed upon the ground, among the heath, the bottom of 

 the nest scraped until the fresh earth appeared, on which the eggs were placed with- 

 out any lining or other accessory covering." 



According to Dr. Richardson, the American species forms a nest of withered grass 

 and moss, placed on a dry spot of ground. Mr. Audubon, the only other naturalist 

 who has described the nest of this bird, speaks of having once met with one on a 

 high ridge in the Great Pine Forest of Pennsylvania. The nest contained four eggs 

 nearly ready to be hatched. He describes them as dull bluish-white, of a some- 

 what elongated or elliptical form, measuring an inch and a half in length, and an 

 inch and an eighth in breadth. This nest was found on the 17th of June, was 

 placed under a low bush, and covered over by tall grass, raked together in a slovenly 

 manner, and quite flat. I have in my possession a copy of the drawing made by 

 Mr. Audubon, whicli was probably a sketch hastily taken by him on the spot. The 

 drawing is however a little larger than the measurements in his description represent 

 the eggs to have been. 



Another specimen of the eggs of this bird, from Hudson's Bay, in my collection, 

 is more elongated than is usual in an Owl's egg, is of a dull-white color, with no 

 apparent shade of blue, and measures 1 ^^^^ inches in length by 1-/^ in breadth. 



The egg represented in the plate was obtained by my friend, Eliot Cabot, Esq., on 

 an island in the Bay of Fundy, and by him well identified. Its shape is also much 

 more oblong than is usual in birds of this family. It is in form an elliptical ovoid, 

 in color a uniform dull-white, and its measurements correspond exactly with the 

 specimen from Hudson's Bay above referred to. Dr. Henry Bryant, who accom- 

 panied Mr. Cabot in the visit to the Bay of Fundy, has furnished the following in 

 addition : " A nest of this bird was found by Mr. Cabot in the midst of a dry peaty 

 bog. It was built on the ground, in a very slovenly manner, of small sticks and a 

 few feathers, and presented hardly any excavation. It contained four eggs on the 

 point of being hatched. A young bird the size of a robin was also found lying dead 

 on a tussock of grass in another similar locality." ' 



' Proceedings of Boston Natural [history Society, .lanuary, 1857. 



