NORTH A Ml-: If 1C AS BIKDx. 235 



sorts of this species for breeding purposes. The nest is constructed with very little 

 art; composed of a few sticks with a more or less complete lining of feathers. 

 Various nesting places are selected; such as a hollow tree or stump, rift of rock, an 

 old crow's or hawk's nest, which is repaired with a few sticks. In some localities 

 the nest is made on the ground or on low bushes, and the same nest is occupied for 

 several years. In the West where this Owl is very abundant it frequently deposits 

 its eggs in old Magpie's nests. In California it begins nesting as early as the middle 

 of February; in Kansas the eggs are deposited early in April. The eggs are from 

 three to six, and sometimes seven in number; they are white and oval in shape. 

 Three eggs of this Owl are in my collection, taken from an old hawk's nest in Knox 

 county, Ohio, April 20, 1884; they were so far advanced in incubation that they could 

 hardly be preserved; these measure 1.62x1.32, 1.57x1.28, 1.59x1.35. Three eggs from a 

 set of five collected in Marion county, Ohio, April 9, 1884, measure 1.65x1.27, 1.59x 

 1.33, 1.75x1.28. A set of six eggs from an old Magpie's nest, collected in Douglas 

 county, Colorado. April 20, 1885, measure 1.59x1.32, 1.64x1.33, 1.57x1.38, 1.65x1.44. 

 1.60x1.35, 1.60x1.40. 



367. SHORT-EARED OWL. Asio acripitriiius (Pall.) Geog. Dist. Entire 

 North America; nearly cosmopolitan. 



The Marsh Owl, or Short-eared Owl, is found throughout North America at 

 large, but is more abundant in the Arctic regions during the breeding season than 

 it is in the United States. It frequents the marshes, the thickets of bottom lands, 

 and it seems to be particularly common in the tall weeds and grass of fields and 

 meadows. In the West it is found on the vast prairies, along sloughs, hiding in the 

 daytime among the sage bushes and tall grass. This Owl is the species commonly 

 shot by sportsmen, as it rises from a iield, marsh or thicket. It is nocturnal, but 

 often hunts its food on dark days; this consists of field mice, moles, shrews and other 

 small rodents. The nest is made on the ground in the matted grass of marsh land; 

 it may be found in a depression, at the foot of a bush, beside a log, or in a burrow 

 made by a rabbit or a muskrat; a few sticks, soft grasses and a few of its own feath- 

 ers usually comprise the nest proper; sometimes the eggs are laid on the bare 

 ground. The complement of eggs ranges from four to seven. In Ohio they are 

 deposited in the month of April, sometimes as early as the latter part of March, or 

 as late as the middle of May. Within these dates it doubtless may be found breed- 

 ing throughout the United States. A set of six eggs in my cabinet, with the parent 

 bird, collected by A. Corwin, in Morrow county, Ohio, May 8, 1884, measure 1.60x 

 1.20, 1.56x1.19, 1.50x1.21, 1.52x1.20, 1.64x1.18, 1.56x1.22. They are white and oval in 

 shape. The nest was on the ground, between logs, at the edge of a blackberry patch. 

 The average size of the eggs is 1.55x1.25. 



368. BARBED OWL, $yntinm ncbulosunt (Forst.) Geog. Dist. Eastern 

 United States, north to southern British Provinces; south to Georgia and Northern 

 Texas 



