8U0KT EARED OWJ.. 

 Asio accipiti'inus. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Ear-tufts very short and inconspicuous; entire plumage vary- 

 ing from buff to buffy-wiiite; every feather on the upper parts 

 with darlv brown stripes; under parts paler; often nearly white 

 on abdomen; bill and claws dark. Iris yellow. 



Female measures about 17 inches in length; extent about 4: 

 inches. 



Habitat — North America at large; nearly cosmopolitan. Com- 

 mon winter res;dent in Pennsylvania. 



The common name of Marsh Owl is quite appropri- 

 ate, as this species frequents principally during its so- 

 journ in this region marshy districts and grass fields. 

 Oftentimes small parties of five, eight or ten individ- 

 uals will be found in grassy retreats, where meadow 

 mice are abundant. Occasionally flocks of these owls, 

 numbering twentyfive or thirty each, congregate in a 

 a locality where food is abundant to spend the win- 

 ter; comnionh', however, colonies of this size are sel- 

 dom met with in this State. Possibly this species oc- 

 curs as a rare breeder in favorable localities in Penn- 

 sylvania, but so far as my experience goes it is found 

 here simply as a winter resident, arriving from more 

 northern latitudes early in November and departing in 

 April. 



KILLED TO SATISFY VANITY. 



This species is of the greatest benefit to the 

 farmer and fruit grower, as it subsists during its resi- 

 dence here almost wholly upon destructive rodents, 

 especially mice. A colony of Short-eared Owls, if left 

 unmolested, will in a short time destroy all the mice 

 in a large meadow. Dr. Fisher ha.s fn.nnd as many as 

 six mice in the stomach of a single owl, and the writer 



