176 



HORNED OWLS, ETC. 



From Biological Survey, U 

 Dept. of Agriculture. 



mottled gray, tawny, and blackish ; wings and tail barred. Length : 

 13-16, wing 11.50-12.00, tail 6.00-6.20, bill 

 .65. 



Distribution. Temperate North America, 

 straggling south to Mexico in winter. Breeds 

 throughout its range. 



Nest . Usually an old crow's nest built up 

 on the sides and lined with grass, dead leaves, 

 and feathers ; generally 10 to 30 feet from the 

 ground, in bushes or trees in swamps or on bor- 

 ders of streams. Eggs : 3 to 6, white. 



Food. Injurious rodents, which it destroys 

 in vast numbers. 



The long-eared owl spends its days mostly 

 in the thickest cover it can find, but when 

 this is not dense enough to prevent discov- 

 ery it protects itself by many curious de- 

 vices. It affords one of the interesting 

 cases where ' unconscious protective color- 

 Fig. 243. Long-eared Owl. ation ig comb i ne( i w i th conscious protec- 

 tive attitudes.' When frightened, Dr. Fisher says, it rises up, 

 'draws the feathers close to the body and erects the ear tufts, 

 resembling in appearance a piece of weatherbeaten bark more than 

 a bird.' 



Major Bendire surprised one while she was killing a ground 

 squirrel. To his astonishment, as he says : "All at once she seemed 

 to expand to several times her normal size, every feather raised and 

 standing at a right angle from the body ; the wings were fully 

 spread, thrown up and obliquely backward, their outer edges touch- 

 ing each other over and behind the head, which likewise looked 

 abnormally large." This remarkable performance was accompanied 

 by a loud hissing. 



The owls, though sometimes seen abroad on cloudy days, usually 

 hunt at night. When in Sierra Valley, California, Mr. Walter K. 

 Fisher encountered them as rival mammalogists. Rewrites: "I 

 was out one bright moonlight night in the sage brush looking for 

 Perodipus and observed about six of these owls flying swiftly and 

 noiselessly over the plain, evidently hunting mice. They were very 

 tame, and flew close about me, taking no notice of my presence. 

 They made no sound whatever." 



They are generally rather quiet birds, Major Bendire says, with 

 low toned pleasing notes, one of which he describes as a low twit- 

 tered whistle. In the breeding season, however, they hoot some- 

 what like screech owls. 



In summing up its food habits, Dr. Fisher declares it one of the 

 most beneficial species, as it destroys 'vast numbers of injurious 



