108 LONG-EARED OWL. 



in the long list of Latin names now applied to supposed geogi^aphical 

 races, local varieties, and even species. For the present, however, 

 I follow Coues, Allen, and others, in giving the American Long- 

 eared Owl as var. JJ^ilsonianus. 



This Owl arrives in Canada sometime during the month 

 of April — early or late, according to the weather — from its 

 winter quarters in the Atlantic States, and soon extends through- 

 out our Provinces. It also reaches the fur countries, where 

 numbers remain during the summer for the purposes of nidification. 

 Individuals have been met with as high as latitude 60°, but seldom 

 beyond this, and the bird cannot be said to be a very boreal 

 species. It nests both throughout the Middle and Atlantic States 

 and Canada, but this perhaps rather sparingly ; and as it is of 

 retiring habits, it is not commonly met with. During the winter 

 months it is particularly abundant in the States bordering on the 

 Atlantic, but at this season is rarely met with in Canada. With 

 us the bird is decidedly most numerous in spring and autumn, 

 and there is no doubt that the majority pass their summer in the 

 tur countries. Indeed from the lists I have examined, the Long- 

 eared Owl appears to be of rare occurrence in most parts of 

 Canada during the summer ; but from my knowledge of its habits 

 I am inclined to think it is more abundant than is generally sup- 

 posed. 



The Long-eared Owl is not particularly fond of man's society, 

 and rather shuns the neighborhood of his dwellings. It delights 

 in the gloomy solitudes of pine forests and dark groves of ever- 

 greens, where we have often surprised it on some of our short-cuts 

 or portages from one inland lake to another. It also, however, 

 during twilight, frequents the skirts of clearings, where it hunts 

 diligently for its favorite prey — field-mice. Insects also are much 

 sought after, and some of the birds we killed had their stomachs 

 filled with grasshoppers, black field-crickets and coleoptera, broken 

 up into small fragments. 



I do not think the Long-eared Owl preys much upon birds 

 during the summer, as we never found the remains of these in 



