284 General Notes. [^ 



my approach. I followed, and soon got a good view of one silhouetted 

 against the sky, as it sat in the top of a fir. The bird was evidently watch- 

 ing my approach, and its ear tufts could be plainly seen. From their posi- 

 tion, rising from the center of the head, rather than the sides, as well as 

 from the size of the bird, I. felt sure that it was a Long-eared Owl. I 

 believe that the birds were a family containing both adults and young, 

 and that they had been attracted by the light of our camp fire. This is 

 the third time that I have known these Owls to be .attracted by the light 

 of a camp fire in the mountains of Montana. — Aretas A. Saunders, 

 Nonralk, Conn. 



The Short-eared Owl Breeding on Nantucket. — In ' The Auk ' 



for January, 1919, Mr. Francis H. Allen, reporting the occurrence of the 

 Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) at Nantucket in August, 1918, speaks 

 of the somewhat doubtful status of this Owl as a breeding bird in Massa- 

 chusetts, and quotes the opinion of Mr. George H. Mackay that at one 

 time it doubtless bred quite regularly on Nantucket and more rarely on 

 Muskeget Island. 



There is, I think, good reason to believe that this Owl has nested on 

 Nantucket in recent years not less regularly than in the past. In the 

 years 1908 to 1912 when, in the month of June, I explored the island intent 

 on its plants, but always with a side eye to birds, the Short-eared Owl was 

 frequently met with, this and the Marsh Hawk appearing to be the only 

 raptorial birds of the island at that season. In 1912 it was more numerous 

 than at any time before, or else chance made it so appear, and between 

 June 27 and July 14 not less than twelve were observed. On June 10, 

 1908, a nest containing two eggs, evidently fresh, was found in Trot's 

 swamp on the western side of the island. The locality was a dryish open 

 part of the swamp less than an acre in extent hemmed about on all sides by 

 thickets that were in many places swampy and impassable. The nest, a 

 slight structure of grasses and other light material, was set in a cluster of 

 hay-scented fern ( Denntstoedtia punctilobula) whose delicate fronds rising 

 around the margin of the nest gave less protection than concealment and, 

 indeed, little concealment from above, for down within the encircling ferns 

 the eggs were in open view. At this spot the ground was slightly raised 

 above the level of the swamp, and the unrestrained growth of this fern 

 attested that here, even in a wet season, the soil must be free from satura- 

 tion. The sitting bird left the nest at my near approach, when its mate 

 almost immediately appeared, both birds ranging widely about well in 

 the air at no time coming very near and, at intervals, almost pausing in 

 their flight directly overhead. One or both birds continually repeated a 

 weak and expressionless guttural note — as memory now recalls it. The 

 eggs, measured at the nest and replaced, were 1.37 and 1.44 inches in length 

 — small for the species according to published measurements. 



South of Nantucket the Short-eared Owl has not often been reported 

 in its breeding season. There are several records of its having nested 



