26 NORTH AXfERICA'N BIRDS. 



tlic iur cnuntries, where it urrives as soon as the snow (lisajipears, and cle- 

 parts again in September. A li'niale was killed May 20 with eggs nearly 

 read}' lor exclusion. The bird was by no means rare, and, as it iVetiuently 

 hunted tor its ])i'i'y in the daytime, was often seen. Its principal haunts 

 ap])eared to be dense thickets ol' ytuing pines, or dark and entangled willow- 

 dumps, where it would sit on a law branch, watching a.ssiduously for mice. 

 When distinlied, it would lly low for a short distance, find then hide itself in 

 a bush, from whence it was not easily driven. Its nest was said to be on the 

 ground, in a dry place, and formed of withered grass. Ilutchins is quoted as 

 giving the number of its eggs as ten or twelve, and describing them as round. 

 The latti!r is not correct, and seven appears to be their maximum number. 



Mr. Downes speaks of it as very rare in Nova Scotia, but Elliott Cabot 

 gives it as breeding among the i.slands in the ISayof Fundy, off the coast, where 

 he i'ound several nests. It was not met with by Professor Verrill in West- 

 ern Maine, but is found in other parts of the State. It is not uncommon in 

 Eastern Mas.sachusetts, where specimens are fre(piently killed and brought 

 to market ibr sale, and where it also breeds in favorable localities on the 

 coast. ]Mr. William IJrewster met with it on Muskeget, near Nantucket, 

 where it had been lireeding, and where it was evidently a resident, its plumage 

 having become bleached by exposure to the sun, and the reflected light of 

 the white .sand of that treeless island. It is not ,so common in the interior, 

 though Mr. Allen gives it as resident, and rather common, near Springfield. 

 Dr. Wood found it breeding in Connecticut, within a few miles of Hartford. 



Dr. Cones gives it as a resident species in South Carolina, and ^Ir Allen 

 also mentions it, on the authority of ^Ir. Iioardman, as quite common among 

 the marshes of Florida. Mr. Auduboti also speaks of finding it so jilenti- 

 ful in Florida that on one occasion he shot seven in a single morning. 

 The}' were to be found in the open ]>rairies of that country, rising from the 

 tall grass in a hurried manner, and moving in a zigzag manner, as if sud- 

 denly wakened from a sound slee]), and then sailing to some distance in a 

 direct course, and drop])ing among the thickest herbage. Occasionally the 

 Owl would enter a thicket of tangled palmettoes, where with a cautious ap- 

 ji'oacli it could lie taken alive, lie never found two of these birds close 

 together, but always singly, at distances of from twenty to a lunulred yards ; 

 and when two or more were started at once, they never llev/ towards each 

 other. 



Mr. Audubon met with a nest of this Owl on one of the mountain 

 ridges in the great pine forest of Pennsylvania, containing four eggs 

 nearly ready to be hatched. They were bluish-white, of an elongated 

 form, and measured l.oO inches in length and 1.12 in breadth. The nest, 

 made in a .slovenly manner with dry grasses, was under a low bush, and 

 covered over with tall grass, through which the bird had made a path. 

 Till' parent bird betrayed her presence by making a clicking noise with her 

 bill as he passed by ; and he nearly put his hand on her before she would 



