Horned and Hoot Owls 



At nightfall, it flies with almost uncanny softness, skimming 

 along the ground, exploring leafy avenues and grassy meadows 

 and swamps; its wide, staring eyes, immovably fixed in the 

 sockets, scanning the hunting ground, as the head, inclined down- 

 ward, turns now this way, now that. Shy, skulking mice, 

 pounced upon unawares by the silent prowler, other small mam- 

 mals, and very rarely a bird, are carried off in the talons, to be 

 devoured at leisure. Like other owls, this species flies slowly 

 and almost uncertainly, but with a buoyancy that gives no sug- 

 gestion of effort. 



About three-fourths of all nests reported are those built by 

 crows and afterward permanently appropriated by the cat owl. 

 It almost never builds for itself; even a squirrel's nest is prefer- 

 able to one of its own construction. Three to six white eggs 

 require about three weeks of close incubation. 



It is chiefly at the nesting season that these usually silent 

 birds lift up their voices. "When at ease and not molested," 

 says Captain Bendire, "the few notes which I have heard them 

 utter are low toned and rather pleasing than otherwise. One of 

 these is a soft-toned wu-hunk, wu-hunk, slowly and several 

 times repeated. . . . Another is a low, twittering, whistling 

 note, like dicky, dicky, dicky, quite different from anything usu- 

 ally expected from the owl family. In the early spring they hoot 

 somewhat like a screech owl, and may often be heard on a still 

 evening; but their notes are more subdued than those of the lat- 

 ter." The most common cry of the long-eared owl, the one 

 that has given it its popular name, is. a prolonged me-ow-ow-ow, 

 so like a cat's cry that it would seem folly for a bird that lives 

 chiefly on mice to utter it. 



Short-Eared Owl 



(Asio accipitrinus) 



Called also: MARSH OWL ; MEADOW OWL ; PRAIRIE 

 OWL 



Length 14 to 17 inches ; female the larger. 



Male and Female Ear tufts inconspicuous ; face disk white, or 

 nearly so, minutely speckled with blackish, and with large 

 black eye patches and yellow eyes ; upper parts dusky brown, 



338 



