THE LONG-EARED OWL. 69 



in its nocturnal .-ambles; and I think that it hunts if 

 silence, except, perhaps, in the mating season. 



The specimen in my possession would not eat in the day- 

 time ; and, if I fed it then, was obliged to push the food down 

 its throat with my finger : at night, it fed readily on raw 

 meat, but was rather loath to eat when I was by, or when a 

 lamp was near its cage. I had water always accessible to 

 it, but never saw it drink, and think, that, in the space of 

 two months, it drank not more than two or three times ; or, 

 if it did, the quantity it took was so small as not to be 

 appreciable. 



Notwithstanding the comparative abundance of this spe- 

 cies, its breeding habits are not well known. I have been 

 so fortunate as to find several nests, all of which were built 

 in forks of tall pines, and constructed of twigs and leaves. 

 Audubon says : 



" The Long-eared Owl is careless as to the situation in which 

 its young are to be reared, and generally accommodates itself wiUi 

 the abandoned nest of some other bird that proves of sufficient 

 size, whether it be high or low, in the fissure of a rock or on the 

 ground. Sometimes, however, it makes a nest itself; and this I 

 found to be the case in one instance near the Juniata River, in 

 Pennsylvania, where it was composed of green twigs, with the 

 leaflets adhering, and lined with fresh grass and wool, but without 

 any feathers." 



Wilson describes its breeding habits as follows : 



" About six or seven miles below Philadelphia, and not far from 

 the Delaware, is a low swamp, thickly covered with trees, and 

 inundated during a great part of the year. This place is the resort 

 of great numbers of the qua bird (Night Heron), where they build 

 in large companies. On the 2oth of April, while wading through 

 the dark recesses of this place, observing the habits of these birds, 

 I discovered a Long-eared Owl, which had taken possession of one 

 of their nests, and was setting. On mounting to the nest, I found 

 it contained four eggs ; and, breaking one of them, the young 

 appeared almost ready to leave the shell. There were numbers of 



