ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND- 



OOLOGIST. 



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Joseph M. Wade, Editor and Publisher. 

 Established, March, 1875. 



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VOL. VI. 



NOR^VICH, CONN., JANUARY, 1882. 



NO. II. 



American Long-eared Owl. 



CAPT. CHAS. E. BENDIRE. 



Asia Americanus is one of the most com- 

 mon species of the Owl family, and is found 

 nearly everywhere in suitable localities 

 over the entire Pacific coast, as well as to 

 the eastward of the Rocky Mountains. 

 Every creek bottom, extensive or not, as 

 long as it contains a few patches of dense 

 willow thickets and undergrowth, will be 

 found to be inhabited by one or more 

 pairs of these birds, if close search is made 

 for them; but as they are almost if not 

 entirely nocturnal they are seldom seen, 

 even in localities where they are compara- 

 tively common. As far as my own limited 

 observations go, this species seems to be 

 more partial to somewhat open country, 

 than to dense and continuous forests. It is 

 quite probable, however, that it may be 

 equally plenty in such localities when care- 

 fully looked for, which I have never done. 



The first nests of the Long-eared Owl 

 were found by me at Fort Lapwai, Idaho, 

 on April i6th, 187 1. I found three nests 

 on that day all situated in dense willow 

 thickets growing near a small creek, and all 

 three within a few hundred yards of each 

 other. The nests occupied by them were 

 old Crows' nests. The sides of these had 

 been built up a couple of inches higher, 

 making them quite deep and hiding the 

 birds from view. They were lined with old 

 grass, a number of leaves and feathers. 

 The nests looked rather dilapidated from 

 below and a feather or two could usually 

 be seen hanging down on the sides, indica- 

 ting plainly that the occupant was not a 

 Crow, whose nest always looks trim and 



neat from below. They were about twelve 

 feet from the ground in heavy willow tops, 

 and a shake of the bush on which the nest 

 was placed would cause the Owl to fly on a 

 neighboring willow, showing her disapprov- 

 al of the proceeding by a frequent snapping 

 of the bill. One nest contained six eggs, 

 slightly incubated, another five, the remain- 

 ing one three. The two last sets were fresh. 

 I took thirteen more sets of eggs of this 

 species during the season of 1871, the last 

 one on June 6th, probably a second laying, 

 and found several others with young ones 

 in various stages of growth. Most of these 

 nests were old Crows' nests that had been 

 somewhat repaired. Two pairs of birds 

 took up their quarter? in old Magpies' nests 

 and two others in hollow cotton-wood trees. 

 In one of the last cases a Red-shafted 

 Flicker had excavated a hole directly over 

 the one occupied by the Owls, and the two 

 entrance holes, although on different sides 

 of the stump, which was only about twelve 

 feet high, were not over two feet apart. 

 These birds seemed to live harmoniously 

 , together. They are the only instances 

 where I have found this species breeding 

 in hollow trees (a fact not previously no- 

 ticed, I believe), although I have taken over 

 forty nests of these birds since then, and 

 have observed a still larger number con- 

 taining young. Now and then this Owl 

 built a nest of its own. I found several 

 such near Camp Harney, Oregon One of 

 these on April 4th, 1877, and this is at the 

 same time the earliest record of my finding 

 their eggs. This nest was placed in a 

 thick bunch of dry willows, about ten feet 

 from the ground, and was tolerably well 

 built, composed externally of small sticks 



