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LONG-EARED OWL. 
STRIX OTUs, LINN. 
PLATE COCLXXXiiis - Mare. 
Tuis Owl is much more abundant in our Middle and Eastern At- 
lantic Districts than in the Southern or Western parts. My friend Dr 
Bacuman has never observed it in South Carolina; nor have I met 
with it in Louisiana, or any where on the Mississippi below the junc- 
tion of the Ohio. Itis not very rare in the upper parts of Indiana, Ilh- 
nois, Ohio, and Kentucky, wherever the country is well wooded. In the 
Barrens of Kentucky its predilection for woods is rendered apparent by 
its not being found elsewhere than in the “ Groves;” and it would seem 
that it very rarely extends its search for food beyond the skirts of those 
delightful retreats. In Pennsylvania, and elsewhere to the eastward, I 
have found it most numerous on or near the banks of our numerous 
clear mountain streams, where, during the day, it is not uncommon to 
see it perched on the top of a low bush or fir. At such times it stands 
with the body erect, but the tarsi bent and resting on a branch, as is 
the manner of almost all our Owls. The head then seems the largest 
part, the body being much more slender than it is usually represented. 
Now and then it raises itself and stands with its legs and neck ex- 
tended, as if the better to mark the approach of an intruder. Its eyes, 
which were closed when it was first observed, are opened on the least 
noise, and it seems to squint at you in a most grotesque manner, al- 
though it is not difficult to approach very near it. It rarely on such 
occasions takes to wing, but throws itself into the thicket, and makes 
off on foot by means of pretty long leaps. 
I have never seen this bird moving on wing to a sufficient distance 
to enable me to speak with certainty of its mode of flight, especially as 
it is one of our most nocturnal species, seldom beginning to seek for 
prey before it is quite dusky. In the morning I have never seen one 
abroad at however early an hour I have been on the look-out. 
The Long-eared Owl is careless as to the situation in which its 
young are to be reared, and generally accommodates itself with an 
abandoned nest of some other bird that proves of sufficient size, whe- 
