SHORT EARED OWL. 273 



A young individual, which is the Strix pumila of Illiger and Tem- 

 MiNCK, has the bill and feet similar ; but the upper parts are rufous ; 

 the head with fewer and smaller white spots ; those on the lower part 

 of the hind neck very large ; the back, scapulars, and wing-coverts un- 

 spotted ; the wings marked as in the adult, but with pale red spots on the 

 outer, and reddish- white on the inner webs ; the tail with only five bands 

 of spots ; the lower parts white, longitudinally streaked with light red, 

 of which colour are the sides of the body and neck, and a band across 

 the throat. 



SHORT-EARED OWL. 



Strix brachyotvs, Linn. 



PLATE CCCCXXXII. Male. 



Although this species is by no means scarce in almost any part of 

 the United States, in the latter half of autumn and dui'ing winter, very 

 few individuals spend the simimer south of the Great Pine Swamp of 

 Pennsylvania, where, however, some occasionally breed. In Nova 

 Scotia, its nest has frequently been met with, and in Newfoundland it 

 is as common as the Barred Owl is in Louisiana. In winter I have 

 foimd it so plentiful in the Floridas, that I have shot seven in the course 

 of a morning, while I was at General Hernandez's. Indeed I was 

 surprised to see the great number of these birds which at that period 

 were to be found in the open prairies of that country, rising from the 

 tall grass in a hurried manner, and zig-zagging for a few yards, as if sud- 

 denly wakened from sound sleep, then sailing to some distance in a di- 

 rect course, and dropping among the thickest herbage. On such an 

 occasion, when I had observed the bird to have tlirust itself into a 

 thicket formed of tangled palmettoes, I moved towards it with caution, 

 approached it, and caught it in my hand. I observed, however, that 

 these birds, on being pursued and repeatedly started from the ground, 

 extended their flight so far as to be quite out of sight before alighting. 

 I never started two birds at once, but always found them singly at dis- 

 tances of from twenty to a hundred yards, and although on several oc- 



VOL. V. s 



