IIG SHORT-EARED OWL. 



ground without any material intervening. These are generally 

 four or five in number, and are of a dull white. Coues says they 

 are " less nearly spherical than usual in this family ; " and those I 

 have seen resemble the eggs of a Grouse more than those of an Owl. 

 They could not be mistaken for the eggs of the Long-eared Owl. 

 According to Mr. Hutchins the Short-eared Owl " lays ten or 

 twelve small, round white eggs ;" but this for a bird of prey would 

 be something very extraordinary, and I am more inclined to believe 

 that this observer mistook the eggs of some of the grouse — which 

 likewise nest on the ground — for those of this Owl. At any rate, 

 whatever the bird may have done in Mr. Hutchins' time, it now is 

 content to lay four or Jive eggs, in rare instances si.\:. These 

 measure on the average about i ;/ inches in length by i y^ in 

 breadth. 



Like other Owls, however, the Short-eared Owl varies Its 

 mode of nesting to suit circumstances. On the island of Oonal- 

 ashka Mr. Dahl has found it breeding in burrows ; he says "the 

 hole is horizontal, and the inner end usually a little higher than 

 the aperture ; lined with dry grass and feathers." There are no 

 instances on record of its occupying the nest of other birds, and 

 consequently it is probable that it does not indulge in this habit. 



Formerly the Short-eared Owl was conjectured to occur but 

 rarely south of Pennsylvania ; but it is now known to be abundant 

 about Washington, D.C., especially in winter. Coues met with 

 it in the salt-marshes of the North Carolina coast at various 

 seasons ; and Boardman states that it is quite common about 

 marshes in Florida. According to Dr. Cooper, in California it 

 has not been found south of the Santa Clara Valley. 



The Short-eared Owls undoubtedly sometimes congregate in 

 large flocks. Mr. Bewick records an instance of twenty-eight 

 individuals being found in a turnip-field — which Richardson re- 

 marks is as extraordinary as Mr. Hutchins' statement respecting 

 its ten or tzvclvc eggs. But other similar instances are on record. 

 Coues says : " On one occasion I observed a gathering of twenty 

 or thirty individuals on the Colorado River, below Fort Mojave. 



