60 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 8-No. 8 



Short-eared Owl. 



It is surprising- that at this late day we 

 sho^^ld know so little of this owl as we do. 

 We have examined the works of the older 

 authorities and find but little information, 

 Audubon throwing the most light on the 

 subject. Everywhere we find indefinite 

 quotations from unsatisfactoiy sources, 

 and much too often the expressions of 

 '•said to be," "supposed to be" and 

 "thought to be," which is, to say the 

 least, very unsatisfactory. 



Richardson, in Fauna JBoreali Ameri- 

 cana, (1831), states : 



" We observed it as far north as latitnrle sixty-seven de- 

 grees ; and a female, killed at Fort Franklin, on the 20th of 

 May, contained several pretty large eggs nearly ready for 



exclusion "according to Mr. Hutching it lays ten or 



twelve white eggs." 



Wilson knew nothing of the breeding 

 habits of this bird, believing it to be simp- 

 ly a winter visitant to the United States, 

 and breeding in the far north. He says: 



" In the United States it is also a bird of passage, coming 

 to us from the north in November, and departing in April." 



" The bird represented in the plate was shot in New 



Jersey, a few miles below Philadelphia, in a thicket of 



pines." "It flies frequently by day, and particularly in 



dark, cloudy weather; takes short flights, and, when sitting 

 and looking sharply around, erects the two slight feathers 

 that constitute its horns, which are at such times very no- 

 ticeable ; but, otherwise not perceivable. No person on 

 slightly examining this bird after being shot, wonld suspect 

 it to be furnished with horns ; nor are they discovered but 

 by careful search, or previous observation, on the living 

 bird." 



Nuttall in his last edition simply gives a 

 rehash of Wilson, Richardson and Be- 

 wick and says : 



" We have observed it at Atovi, one of the Sandwich Is- 

 lands in the Pacific, as well as in the Territory of Oregon." 



This edition was published after Nutt- 

 all's journey across the continent to the 

 Columbia river and return home via. Sand- 

 wich Islands and Cape Horn back to Bos- 

 ton, and yet ToAvnsend, who was Nuttall's 

 companion, shot specimens on the Colum- 

 bia river and afterwards gave them to Au- 

 dubon. From the correspondence and 

 material in our possession referring to this 

 expedition we are inclined to the belief 

 that Townsend did not allow Nuttall to 

 know the extent of the ornithological 



knowledge grained by him on this trip, or 

 the number of birds shot, as he fully in- 

 tended to publish a work on North Ameri- 

 can Birds, and did g-et out one number in 

 1839, but surrendered to Audubon when 

 he commenced his seven vol. octavo edi- 

 tion. 



Audubon besides quoting- previous au- 

 thors, gives us considerable original infor- 

 mation from his own observations. He 

 also gives an excellent portrait of the bird. 

 We quote from him. Vol. I, page 141 : 



" The only nest of this bird that I have found was placed 

 on one of the high mountain ridges of the great pine for- 

 est. [Pa.] It contained four eggs, nearly ready to be 

 batched. They were of a dull bluish white, covered with 

 e^xcrement, of a somewhat elongated or eliptical form, 

 measuring an inch and a half in length, and an inch and an 

 eighth in breadth. The nest which I met with on the 17th 

 of June, was placed under a low bush and covered over by 

 tall grass, through which a path had been made by the bird. 

 It was formed of dry grass, raked together in a slovenly 

 manner, and quite flat, but covering a large space, on one 

 side of which was found many pellets, and two field mice, 

 which must have been brought there in course of the pre- 

 ceding night, as they were quite fresh. I should never have 

 discovered the nest had not the sitting bird made a noise by 

 clicking its bill as I was passing close by. The poor thing 

 was so intent on her task that I almost put my hand on her 

 before she moved; and then, instead of flying off, she 

 hopped with great leaps until about ten rods from me, keep- 

 ing up a constant clinking of her mandibles. Having sat- 

 isfied myself as to the species, made an outline of two of 

 the eggs, and measured them, I proceeded slowly to a short 

 distance and watched her movements. Having remained 

 silent and still for about ten minutes, I saw her hop toward 

 the nest, and soon felt assured that she had resumed her 

 task. It was my intention to revisit the spot and take note 

 of the growth of the young, but letters which came to me 

 from Philadelphia a few days after, induced me to return 

 thither; and since then I have had no opportunity of ex- 

 amining either the eggs or the young of the Short-eared 

 Owl." 



Dr. Coues adds but little that is new to 

 the above. He says : 



" I procured one specimen at Fort Randall in the winter 

 of 18T2-73"' 



He further says : 



" It is decidedly the commonest owl about Washington, 

 D. C, especially in Winter." "On one occasion I ob- 

 served a gathering of twenty or thirty individuals on the 



Colorado river, below Fort Mojave ;" "The birds were 



sitting quite closely together in the rank herbage bordering 

 the river ; some flopped hurriedly off as the steamboat 

 came abreast of them, while others stood to their perches 

 as we passed." 



In the Bull, of the Nutt. Orn. Club, Vol. 

 IV, page 223, W. E. D. Scott, writing from 

 Long Beach, N. J., says : 



"Rather common; resident; breeds. Took a nest and 

 seven partly incubated eggs, June 28, 1878. 



