319 



OTIIS. 



(lio low liillocks of which a greater pai-t of the surface is composed. The miniature val- 

 leys in which there is a slight accumulation of soil, support a somewhat luxuriant growth 

 of poison ivy among which are scattered clamps of wild beach plums that, although, judg- 

 ing from their moss-covered stems and gnarled branches, they have withstood the storms 

 of many winters, have only attained the height of three or four feet. During the first few 

 hours of our visit, we discovered two or three huge nests placed in the tops of this dwarfed 

 shrubbery but could not, at first, make out to what birds they belonged. The ishind was 

 swarming with three species of Terns and, after a time, we saw a cloud of these birds gath- 

 ering ai-ound some object which was suspended in air but the Terns were so numerous that 

 we could not see what it was that engaged their attention, until it moved onward, when 

 we saw that it was a Short-eared Owl. We afterwards found that there was quite a col- 

 ony of them on the place; in fact, we secured four or five specimens. 



A peculiar, bleached variety of the field mouse was very abundant on the island of 

 Muskeget, living mainly on the surface, for they could not well burrow, and they furnished 

 a nev(!r-f\iiling supply of food for the Owls which were evidently constant residents. These 

 birds, much to my surprise, would hunt almost constantly by day and, while so doing, 

 ivere always surrounded by thousands of Terns all of which were screaming so loudly that 

 it was ([uite impossible to hear any other sound, yet the Owls never appeared to pay the 

 slightest attention to them but would fly about quietly and seemed to be as successful in 

 capturing their prey as if alone. The reason for the antipathy displayed by the Terns was 

 obvious when we came to dissect some of the Owls and found feathers of Terns in their 

 stomachs, mingled with bones of mice. Well-cleaned skeletons of Terns were also numer- 

 ous near the old nests which, we now knew, were built by the Owls, thus proving most 

 conclusively that these birds occasionally varied their diet. 



An examination of the nests of these Owls on Muskeget Island, showed that they 

 were composed mainly of sticks but, as they were bulky structures, it was quite evident 

 that they had been used year after year by the Owls. The eggs must be deposited here in 

 April but further north, on Grand Menan, for example, they are laid a month later. The 

 Short-eared Owls are migratory to a certain degree during the winter, passing, at least, 

 south of Massachusetts. At this season, they are inclined to be gregarious, for they asso- 

 ciate in small companies in their fixvorite resorts. 



GENUS 11. OTUS. THE LONG-EAKKD OWLS. 



(!ev. (][I. Thf .1/rrnum is considirahly arched, lo'tth a moditrnlely rounded keel which docs not quite final in hciijhl one 

 half the width of the sternum. Outer marginal indentations, twice as deep as the inner. Coracoids, not very short, beinij 

 yjual ill Icni/th to the top of the heel and are set on at a rather wide angle. Furcula, quite welt developed. Tail and winys, 

 'ony. There arc very lony car tufts. 



All mciiilwi-snf tills genus have the ear tufts present and they are partic-uUii-ly prominent. The plumage, althou;:li 

 iowny, is not strikingly long. The eyes are not large and are usually yellow in color. The sterno-trachealis is (juite 

 ;tout, and there is a slender hronchialis, but no other laryngeal museles. The nesophngus is nearly straight, and opens 

 nto a small proventrieulus with simple glands arranged in a very narrow, zonular hand. The stoniaeh is large, globular 

 n fonn, with very thin walls. The coeca are quite loni' with the blind ends dilated. The fold of the duodenum is long, in- 

 dosing a small, but wide, panereas. B<ith lobes of the iiver ire nearly equal in size. There is but one sper ics within our 



jlllit.s. 



