STRioiD-K — Till': owr,s. 27 



innvf, and tlifii slif iKippcil uwmv, and wmiM luit tly, ictiiriiiii;,' to Iicr iicst 

 us soon as lie left tlie spot. Tlu' jit'llets (lisy;orj,'eil liy tliiH )\\ 1, and lound 

 near Iut nest, M'orc t'i)uiid to consist of llio lioncs of small (luadniped.s 

 iiiixi'd willi iiair, and tlio\vinj;s of several kinds of eoleopteions insects. 



This liird was found breedinj^' near the coast oi' New Jersey i)y .Mr. Kri- 

 der; and at Hamilton, Canada, on the western shore of Lake Ontario, Mr. 

 Mcllwraitli speaks of its lieiiiy more common than any other Owl. 



A nest iVmnd liy Mr. Caliot was in the midst of a dry jieaty i)oj,'. It was 

 Ituilt on the j^round, in a very slovenly manner, of small sticks and a few 

 feathers, and ])reseiited hardly any excavation. It contained four ef,fL,'.s on 

 the point of being hatched. A young bird the size of a Jiobin was also 

 found lying dead on a tussock of grass in another similar locality. 



The notes of Mr. ]\IacFarlane supply memoranda of twelve ne.sts found 

 by him in the Anderson liiver country. They were all placed on the ground, 

 in varit)us situations. One was in a small clump of dwarf willows, on the 

 gr(jund, and comi)o.sed of a few decayed leaves. Another nest was in a very 

 small hole, lin(;d with a little Iiay and some decayed leaves. This was on a 

 barren plain of some extent, fifty miles east of Fort Anderson, antl on the edge 

 of the wooded country. A third was in a clump of Labrador Tea, and was 

 sindlar to the preceding, except that the nest contained a few feathers. 

 This ne.st contained seven eggs, — the largest number found, and only in 

 tliis case. A fourth was in an artificial depression, evidently scratched out 

 by the ])arent bird. Feathers seem to have been noticed in about half the 

 nesLs, and in all cases to have been taken l)y the parent from her own 

 breast. Nearly all tlie n.^sts were in depressions made for the purpose. 



Mr. Dall noticed the Short-eared Owl on the Yukon and at Xulato, and 

 i\Ir. IJannister observed it at St. Michael's, where it was a not unfreiiuent 

 visitor. In his recent Xotes on the Avi-fauna of the Aleutian Islands, (I'r. 

 Cal. Academy, 1873,) Dall informs us that it is resident on Unalashka, and 

 that it excavates a hole horizontally for its nesting-place, — usually to a 

 distance of about two feet, the farther end a little the higher. The extrem- 

 ity is lined with dry grass and feathers. As there are no trties in the island, 

 the bird was often seen sitting on the ground, near the mouth of its bur- 

 row, even in the daytime. Mr. Eidgway found this l)ivd in winter in Cali- 

 fornia, but never met with it at any season in the interior, where the 

 0. vilsonianuii was so abundant. 



The eggs of this Owl are of a nniform dull white color, wliieli in the 

 nnblown egg is said to have a bluish tinge ; they are in form an elliptical 

 ovoid. The eggs obtained by Mr. Cabot meivsured 1.50 inches in length 

 and 1.25 in breadth. The smallest egg collected by Mr. MacFarlane meas- 

 nred 1.50 by 1.22 inches. The largest taken by Mr. B. 11. lioss, at Fort 

 Sim])Son, measures 1.(50 by 1.30 inches ; their average measurement is l.o? 

 by 1.28 inches. An egg of the European bird measures 1.55 by 1.30 

 inches. 



