THE AMERICAN LONG-EARED OWL. ■ 329 



her wings over her head, spreads her tail and feigns lameness, di'agging her- 

 self along on the leaves, all the time snapping her mandibles, making a rapping 

 noise as if two sticks were struck together. She will, at such times, also mew 

 like a cat ; if followed, she makes her way in a direction opposite to the nest. 

 While this performance progresses the male is, perhaps, giving vent to his 

 feelings by fluttering about and squealing like a half-grown rat in a trap, or 

 muttering a mournful "hoo-maa-maa-voo" in a subdued tone. I have often 

 mistaken the notes of this bird for those of human beings. On April 3, 1886, 

 I took a fresh laid egg of the Long-eared Owl from a nest of Crow's eggs, and 

 the parent of the latter did not seem to mind the intrusion." 



Although I have examined quite a number of the nests of this Owl (some 

 forty), in various parts of the West, I have never found the parents as demonstra- 

 tive as Mr. Preston says they are; and in not a single instance did either of the 

 birds fly to the ground when diiven from the nest and feign lameness, or make 

 much noise except that produced by the snapping of the mandibles. The 

 female would simply ruffle lier feathers, fly into a neighboring tree or some 

 dense bushes, and watch my proceedings. On rare ocasions, she would 

 utter a sound resembling the spitting and mewing of an angry cat. Like the 

 Barn Owl, they are inoffensive and harmless birds, and on the whole far more 

 beneficial than otherwise. Fully three-fourths of their food consists of the 

 smaller rodents, such as squirrels, chipmunks, gophers, and mice; frogs also 

 form a considerable part of their food where these batrachians are plentiful. 

 Occasionally they make a meal of a small bird or a young rabbit, but this is 

 the exception and not the rule. While by no means devoid of courage, I doubt 

 if they ever molest poultry or any of our game birds, and if any of the remains 

 of the latter are found in their stomachs it is more likely that they have picked 

 up a badly wounded bird, or one that had iDeen shot and not recovered by the 

 hunter. The smaller rodents are swallowed entire, and the indigestible parts, 

 consisting of bones and fur, are subsequently ejected in the form of pellets. 

 This applies to the Owl family in general, excepting possibly the little Elf Owl. 



In the more settled portions of the country their nests are found in both 

 deciduous and evergreen woods, in swampy as well as high and dry locations, 

 but usually at no great distance from water; and the gloomiest and densest parts 

 of the forests are generally selected for nesting sites. In the thinly settled por- 

 tions of the West, they frequently nest in quite open and exposed situations, as 

 a clump of willows or a small pine sapling or in the lower shrubbery bor- 

 dering small streams or springs. The height of the nests from the ground 

 varies considerably in difi^erent sections. In the majority of cases it is not 

 over 20 feet, rarely over 30, and in the West not infrequently as low as 10 

 and 12 feet. 



The Long-eared Owl rarely constructs a nest of its own; usually the 

 last year's nest of a Crow is slightly repaired by being built up on the sides 

 and lined with a little dry grass, a few dead leaA^es, and feathers; some of the 

 latter may nearly always be seen hanging on the outside of the nest. Fully 



