170 NEW YORK «ZOOLOGICAL SSOGCIETIN: 
SHORT-EARED OWL. 
be in a hole in a river bank, in a church belfry, or a barn or hollow 
tree may be used. Little or no nesting material is provided, the 
five to nine ovate, white eggs often lying on the bare earth or 
wood. At the time of hatching the young are covered with yel- 
lowish down, and, like the young of all owls they are most curious 
looking creatures. The wing and tail feathers and the facial disks 
are the first to appear, and even when five weeks old the body is 
still clothed in the nestling down. 
Economically this owl is everywhere of the greatest value to 
man. In California it preys on gophers and ground squirrels; in 
the South on cotton rats, and in the North, mice and rats form its 
chief food. Dr. Fisher, in an examination of twenty-nine 
stomachs, found traces of poultry in only one. Three contained 
the remains of small birds; seven were empty; four contained 
insects; seventeen had mice and seventeen more contained other 
small mammals; conclusive evidence that these birds deserve all 
the protection that man can give them. 
This bird’s delicate plumage of white and gold has, however, 
