106 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



The Long-eared Owl has been found breeding in different parts 

 of Missouri. Mr. Currier found it May 4, 1902, in Clark Co.; 

 Mr. Parker in Montgomery Co. ; MM. Sheley, Bush and Tindall 

 found it in Jackson Co. Mr. Sheley has a fine set of six eggs in 

 his collection at Independence. Mr. Bush of Courtnej^ writes 

 that they breed in the deepest recesses of the bottom, and nest 

 in willows. Mr. Tindall of Independence found several pairs 

 nesting in old crows' nests, and says they begin setting from 

 about March 20 to 25. Specimens have been killed during the 

 breeding season in St. Louis and St. Charles Co., but there are 

 at present no such records from the whole region south of St. 

 Louis and St. Clair Co., where Mr. Prier of Appleton City found 

 them breeding in 1906. Specimens without date are in the col- 

 lections of Dr. Kizer at Springfield and Mr. Kastendieck at Bil- 

 lings. That the species occurs in flocks in winter is attested by 

 Mr. Hurter, who saw a flock of 30, January 30, 1873, in one tree 

 in the Mississippi bottom near St. Louis ; also by Mr. Bush, who 

 writes from Courtney that they are abundant in river bottoms, 

 with from 50 to 60 on one tree. 



*367. Asio ACCiPiTRiNUS (Pall.). Short-eared Owl. 



Strix accipitrinus. Strix brachyotus. Ulula brachyotus. Otus brachy- 

 otus. Brachyotus palustris. Marsh Owl. Prairie Owl. Cat Owl. 



Geog. Dist. — Cosmopolitan except Australia and some islands. 

 In North America, throughout United States and British Prov- 

 inces north to the Arctic Sea, and from Greenland to Point 

 Barrow and the Aleutian Islands. Breeds locally from Vir- 

 ginia, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and southern Oregon 

 northward, and winters irregularly from northern United States 

 southward, chiefly south of lat. 40°. 



There are several records of its breeding in Missouri. A nest 

 containing downy young was found in 1897 near St. Francisville, 

 Clark Co., and another by Mr. Philo W. Smith, Jr., June 2, 1905, 

 near Maple Lake in St. Charles Co. They are also given as breed- 

 ers in Johnson Co. by Mr. A. F. Smithson of Warrensburg, and 

 in St. Clair Co. by Mr. C. W. Prier of Appleton City. Numerous 

 records and specimens show that as winter visitants Short-eared 

 Owls are well distributed over the northern and western prairie 

 region, where they are irregularly common from October 10 to 

 April 1. Sometimes they invade the Ozark border region, as 

 specimens in the collections at Springfield (Leblanc and Kizer) 

 and at Billings (Kastendieck) prove. Mr. Prier reports having 



