1919-] Cape San Antonio, Buenos Ayres. 505 



287. Asio brachyotus Forst. Sliort-eared Owl. 



Tliougli not nil familiar to me, I would hardly agree with 

 Mr. Claude Grant that the Short-eared Owl is " fairly 

 common '' in our district. On occasion I have put up a 

 pair and a single bird in one day, but otherwise I have 

 ridden the campo daily for months — at all seasons of the 

 year — without chronicling a single occurrence. A proof 

 positive is that I have never found a nest, or been able to 

 procure the eggs, thi'ongh any of my peones or shepherds. 

 It has been left to Mr. Hudson therefore to furnish a fuller 

 and more satisfactory description of the species and its 

 habits than lies in my powder. 



Twice at long intervals (1873 and 1899) I have shot 

 specimens in our woods. These aberrant instances (for its 

 habitat is the rough grass-lands) were not merely casual, 

 for in both cases the individual had been observed in situ — 

 sleeping on a branch — various days previously. The first- 

 mentioned hooted somewhat like a dog baying as it took 

 flight on being disturbed, the second was mute. 



Four authentic clutches of eggs found by others more 

 fortunate than myself were taken respectively on the 13th 

 and 23rd of December, 28th of January, and the 26th of 

 February (midsummer the two last). The number never 

 exceeded three, and the average measurement of those that 

 came into my possession is 44 x 33 mm. The largest is 

 45 X 34 mm. and the smallest 41 x 33 mm. 



290. Speotyto cunicularia Mol. Burrowiug-Owl. 



To Hudson's full account of this species, and my former 

 notes of 1879, there can be little to add. During the great 

 flood years of 1913-15 it had a most disastrous experience. 

 On my arrival at the Yngleses on the first-named year 

 1 found it drowned out of all the lowlands, and misfortune 

 seemed to have rendered it less noisy and aggressive to 

 passers-by. As might be inferred, all through the subse- 

 quent summer it was exceedingly numerous on all the 

 higher sandy land, where the refugees had naturally added 

 to the usual denizens. On my return again in the spring of 



