174 



NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



YOUNG BAKX OWL. 

 From a photograph by T. H. Jackson 



treniely difficult to tame and seldom live long in captivity unless 

 reared from the nest by hand. 



The Short-Eared Owl, Asio accipitrinus (Pall.), is, for several 

 reasons, of especial interest. It is one of the most widely dis- 

 tributed of all birds. The keenest systematists can not distinguish 

 between specimens from Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South 

 .•\merica and the Hawaiian Islands. It is absent only from west 

 Africa, Australia, and the adjacent Pacific Islands. 



Although so closely related to the Long-Eared Owl, this is a 

 bird of very different habits. Its favorite haunts are open, grassy 

 marshes and its nest is placed invariably upon the ground. It is so 

 far diurnal that in cloudy weather and occasionally in bright sun- 

 shine, it may be seen hunting its prey. It differs from many owls 

 in that it has strong instincts of migration, nesting often on the 

 Arctic tundras of the far north and coming southward in winter. 

 At such times large flocks may be observed in our salt marsh- 

 lands. 



This habit of congregation, even at the breeding season, has at 

 times been of the greatest value to man, as when in Scotland 

 during a plague of voles or field mice, these owls appeared sud- 

 denly in surprising numbers and as many as four hundred of their 



