VoL m9 XVI ] General Notes - 109 



to mid-air unsuccessful. The birds remained about the tower until the 

 first week of March, when I suppose they departed for the north. — Delos 

 E. Culver, Addingham, Pa. 



A Note of the Long-eared Owl (Asio wilsonianus). — On the evening 



of August 3, 1918, near the village of Branchville in northern New Jersey, 



some friends appealed to me to identify a supposed bird-note which for 



several nights previous had been heard in a grove back of the hotel, " The 



Pines." The note had always been heard after dark, and with such 



regularity and frequency that the diurnal birds were eliminated. The 



descriptions of this voice of the night varied widely. One said it resembled 



the mew of a cat, another likened it to the noise of a squeaking pulley, 



while other comparisons were less suggestive. But after hearing it, I 



would describe the note as a softly whistled whee-you, the two syllables 



slurred together. Although scarcely as long as the ordinary note of the 



Phcebe, in quality it suggested that of the Screech Owl — being, however, 



much shorter and more frequently uttered than the latter. I now suspected 



that it was an owl, but felt sure that it could not be a Screech Owl, a Barred 



Owl, or a Great Horned Owl, for I am familiar with the notes of these. 



So, after securing an electric flash-lamp and while holding it over my head, 



I tried to get as close as I could to the bird, to see it if possible. At least 



I thought I might " shine its eyes " as several years ago I had done in 



Florida with the Chuck-Will' s-Widow. The wood was composed partly 



of native white pines and hemlocks with an undergrowth of sprouts of 



American yew. I first located the bird in a tall hemlock, but I could not 



see it in the dense foliage. In searching for it with my bright light, I 



flushed it several times, but I could never hear it fly from one tree to 



another. Its silent flight strengthened my suspicion that it was an owl, 



and its habitat made me think it was a Long-eared Owl. Although I 



failed to see the bird that night, the next morning, August 4, I walked out 



into the grove, and under one of the hemlocks in which I had first heard the 



note the night before, I noted some droppings and also a few owl pellets. 



Upon looking up into the' tree, I was surprised to see a Long-eared Owl 



with its ear-tufts elevated, gazing down at me. It was perched upon a 



branch not more than twenty feet up, and remained there until I had 



examined it to my entire satisfaction and then walked away and left it. 



While the evidence is circumstantial, it seems to me pretty sure that the 



unknown note came from this bird or one of the same species. By a little 



fiuther search in the trees near by, a second bird was located. 



Since I have never read a description which I am sure applies to this 

 note of the Long-eared Owl, I though it worth recording. — G. Clyde 

 Fisher, American Museum of Natural History, New York City. 



The Short-eared Owl in Massachusetts in Summer. — As the 



present status of the Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) as a breeding bird 



