ONTARIO. 



common, and in New England resides throughout the year. 

 That it breeds in Ontario is vouched for by Mr. Robert Elliot, 

 who found a nest near his home at Bryanston during the 

 summer of the present year (1886). 



H9. ASIO ACCIPITRINUS (PALL.). 367. 

 Short-eared Owl. 



Fulvous or buffy -brown, paler or whitey-brown below ; breast and upper 

 parts broadly and thickly streaked with dark-brown ; belly usually sparsely 

 streaked with the same, but not barred crosswise ; quills and tail buff, with 

 few dark bands and mottling ; facial area, legs and crissum pale, unmarked ; 

 eye-patch blackish ; ear-tufts of from 3-6 feathers. Size of Wilsonianus. 



HAB. Throughout North America ; nearly cosmopolitan. 



Nest, on the ground ; consisting of a few sticks, blades of grass and 

 feathers, loosely thrown together. 



Eggs, 4 to 6 ; white, nearly round. 



This is a much more common species than the preceding, 

 and probably more northern in its range. I have reports of its 

 occurrence at different points throughout Ontario, and it was 

 observed in the Northwest by Prof. Macoun. It is less 

 nocturnal in its habits than the preceding, and is somewhat 

 gregarious, being occasionally seen during the day in the falb 

 in flocks of 10 or 12, hunting in company. It has not been my- 

 fortune to fall in with any of those migratory groups, but I 

 have observed the species skimming noiselessly over the inlets 

 and moist meadows along the shores of Hamilton Bay. 



It is a most expert mouser, destroying large numbers of the 

 farmers' foes, and is therefore entitled to his protection, but all 

 birds of prey are regarded as enemies by the sportsman, who 

 allows none to pass that come within his reach. 



GENUS SYRNIUM SAVIGNY. 



150. SYRNIUM NEBULOSUM (FORST.). 368. 

 Barred Owl. 



Above cinerous-brown, barred with white, often tinged with fulvous ; 

 below similar, paler, the markings in bars on the breast, in streaks elsewhere ; 



153 



