THE LONG-EARED OWL. 35 



never tried to seize its persecutors while on the wing, but 

 on several occasions we saw a sitting bird pounced upon 

 and borne off. Sometimes in the middle of the night a great 

 outcry among the Terns told when a tragedy was being 

 enacted." 



Like the rest of the Owls, the Short-ear is for the most 

 part a bird of the night; and it feeds especially on mice and 

 moles. 



THE LONG-EARED OWL 



(Otus vulgaris var. wilsonianus) is a common resident in the 

 swamps and dense evergreen woods, but is nowhere abund- 

 ant in Western New York. About the size of the former, it 

 is readily distinguishable by its long ear-like tufts of 8-12 

 feathers, situated on the top of the head like the ears of a 

 cat, and by its darker color; dark brown, mixed with fulvous 

 and finely specked with white, above; white, lined and 

 crossed with light-brown, below; facial disks and feet, fulv- 

 ous; narrow ring around the eye, black. This variety of the 

 European species (vulgaris] is of rather southern habitat, 

 stretching across the continent, and, perhaps, barely extend- 

 ing into New England. It breeds abundantly in Eastern 

 Pennsylvania, its nest, placed in trees or possibly on the 

 ground, being "usually constructed of rude sticks, sometimes 

 of boughs with the leaves adherent thereto, externally, and 

 generally, but not always, lined with the feathers of birds." 

 The same nest is used for a succession of years, and it is the 

 testimony of both Wilson and Audubon, as also of Buffon, 

 in respect to the European variety, that the deserted nests 

 of other birds are appropriated and repaired. The eggs, 

 commonly four, about 1.50 X 1.35, are roundish and white, 

 after the manner of Owls. In common with its class, 

 the food of this species is small birds and reptiles and 

 insects. 



