LONG-EARED OWL. 141 



This Owl is preominently a mouser, but it also destroys some insects 

 aud probably small batrachians and reptiles. 



In April, 1888, at Mnnson Hill, Va., a thickly wooded country about 

 8 miles from the city of Washington, the writer collected some fifty or 

 more pellets under a tree where one of these Owls had roosted all winter. 

 From this mass were gleaned 176 skulls or parts of skulls, representing 

 the following species : 95 meadow mice {Arvicola riparins) ; 19 pine mice 

 {A. pinetorum)', 15 house mice {Mus musculu.s); 5 Tvhite- footed mice 

 {Sitomys americamis) ; 3 Cooper's mice {ISynaptomys cooperi); 23 little 

 iihort tailed shvews {Blarina exilipes); 3 short- tailed shrews (B.brevi- 

 Cauda carolinensis) ; and 13 birds, of which 11 were sparrows, 1 a blue- 

 bird, and the other a warbler. It might be stated in this connection that 

 the remains of Cooper's mice found on this occasion was the first inti- 

 mation that the species occurred anywhere in the vicinity. 



The following species of mammals and birds were positively identified 

 among the stomach contents: 



MAMMALS. BIRDS. 



Perognathus peniciUatus. Spinus fristis. 



Mus mnscnlHS. SpizeUa vionticola. 



Sitomys americanut, Junco hyemalis. 



Evotomys gapperi. Melospiza georgiana. 



Arvicola riparins. Melospiza fasciata. 



J rvicola pinetorum, Dendroica coronata. 



Synaptomys cooperi. Begulus satrapa. 



Blarina b. carolinensis. Tutdus swainsoni. 



Blarina exilipes. Sialia siaiis. 

 Sorex. 



The Long-eared Owl breeds in suitable localities throughout its 

 range. Its nest is usually a remodeled nest of some bird or mammal, 

 more often of the hawk, crow, magpie, and heron, and occasionally 

 that of the squirrel. The remodeling commonly consists in making 

 the top more or less even and in the addition of a few evergreen twigs, 

 leaves, or feathers as a lining. The situation, of course, varies; some 

 nests are in high trees, others in low trees and bushes, while a few 

 have been found on the ground. But one instance of this species nest- 

 ing in hollow trees has come to our knowledge, and this is related by 

 Capt. Bendire as occurring at Fort Lapwai, Idaho, and is as follows: 



"Two pairs of birds took up their quarters in an old Magpie's nest, 

 and two others in hollow cottonwood trees. In one of the last cases a 

 Eed-shafted Flicker had excavated a hole directly over the one occu- 

 pied by the Owls, and the two entrance holes, although on different 

 sides of the stump, which was only about twelve feet high, were not 

 over two feet apart. These birds seemed to live harmoniously together." 

 (Ornithologist and Oologist, vol. vi, 1882, p. 81.) 



Like many other birds of prey its nesting habits have been modified 

 in some parts of the West by the absence of trees, for in many places it 



