STRIGID.E — THE OWLS. 27 



move, and then she hopped away, and would not tly, returning to her nest 

 as soon as he left the spot. The pellets disgorged by tlie Owl, and found 

 near her nest, were found to consist of the bones of small quadrupeds 

 mixed with hair, and the wings of several kinds of coleopterous insects. 



This bird was f(.)und breeding near the coast of New Jersey by Mr. Kri- 

 der ; and at Hamilton, Canada, on the western shore of Lake Ontario, Mr. 

 Mcllwraith speaks of its being more common than any other Owl. 



A nest found by Mr. Cabot was 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 liardly any excavation. It contained four eggs on 

 the point of being hatched. A young bird the size of a Eobin was also 

 found lying dead on a tussock of grass in another similar locality. 



The notes of Mr. MacFarlane supply memoranda of twelve nests found 

 by him in the Anderson Eiver country. They were all placed on the ground, 

 in various situations. One was in a small clump of dwarf willows, on the 

 ground, and composed of a few decayed leaves. Another nest was in a very 

 small hole, lined with a little hay and some decayed leaves. This was on a 

 barren plain of some extent, fifty miles east of Fort Anderson, and on the edge 

 of the wooded country. A third was in a clump of Labrador Tea, and was 

 similar to the preceding, except that the nest contained a few feathers. 

 This nest contained seven eggs, — the largest number found, and only in 

 this case. A fourth was in an artificial depression, evidently scratched out 

 by the parent bird. Feathers seem to have been noticed in about half the 

 nests, and in all cases to have been taken by the parent from her own 

 breast. Nearly all the nests were in depressions made for the purpose. 



Mr. Dall noticed the Short-eared Owl on the Yukon and at Nulato, and 

 Mr. Bannister observed it at St. Michael's, where it was a not unfreqnent 

 visitor. In his recent Notes on the Avi-fauna of the Aleutian Islands, (Pr. 

 Cal. Academy, 1873,) Dall informs us that it is resident on Unalashka, and 

 that it excavates a hole horizontally for its nesting-place, — usually to a 

 distance of about two feet, the farther end a little the higher. The extrem- 

 ity is lined with dry grass and feathers. As there are no trees in the island, 

 the bird was often seen sitting on the ground, near the mouth of its bur- 

 row, even in the daytime. Mr. Ilidgway found this bird in winter in Cali- 

 fornia, but never met with it at any season in the interior, where the 

 0. wilsonianus was so abundant. 



The eggs of this Owl are of a uniform dull white color, which in the 

 unblown egg is said to have a bluish tinge ; they are in form an elliptical 

 ovoid. The eggs obtained by Mr. Cabot measured L56 inches in length 

 and L25 in breadth. The smallest egg collected by Mr. MacFarlane meas- 

 ured 1.50 by 1.22 inches. The largest taken by Mr. B. E. Eoss, at Fort 

 Simpson, measures 1.60 by 1.30 inches ; their average measurement is 1.57 

 by 1.28 inches. An egg of the European bird measures 1.55 by 1.30 

 inches. 



