LONG-EARED OWL. 409 



with its wailing Bcreech. In this city it is not a frequent visitor, and 

 confines its visits to the colder portions of the year. At such times it 

 often appears to be driven to desperation to procure food. Mr. C. H. 

 Wetmore informed me that some bird, probably an Owl, attempted for 

 several successive nights to capture the shadow of a canary bird, which 

 fell upon a white window curtain, near which its cage was suspended. 

 Hoping the bird might prove to be an Acadian Owl, I requested that if 

 possible he procure the specimen, which he did, it proving to be of this 

 species. While the bird was lying in my ofl&ce, it was seen by other 

 gentlemen, who reported that presumably the same bird had made the 

 the same attempt at their respective resiliences. As might be expected 

 in a bird which developed a hobby for so rare an article of diet, it was 

 reduced to a shadow itself. Its ordinary food consists of large insects, 

 mice and small birds. 



The nest of the Mottled wl is placed in a hollow stump or trunk, often 

 in a decaying apple tree. The eggs are from five to seven in number, 

 pure white and nearly round. They measure 1.38 by 1.19. 



Genus OTUS. Cavier. 

 Size medium. Ears very large, with semi-eircular flap. Ear tnfts ,loDg and con- 

 ^icuous ; facial disc eomplete. Tarsi and toes feathered. 



Otus vulgaris Fleming. 

 var. wiLSONiANus (Less.) AIL 



Long-eared Owl. 



Strix otua, Audubon, Orn. Biog., iv, 1835, 572. 



Otutvulgaiis, Audubon, B. Am., i, 1840, 136. 



Otua wiisonianus, Kirkpateicic, Ohio Farmer, viii, 1859, 27; Ohio Agrio. Eep. for 1858, 



1859, 377.— Whbaton, Ohio Agrio Eep. for 1860, 361 ;. Reprint, 1861, 3. 

 Otus vulgaris, va,r. loilsonianus, WaEATON, Food at Birdi, etc, Ohie Agrio. Rep. for 1874, 



570; Reprint, 1875, 10— Langdo.v, Cat. Birds of Gin,, 1877, 12; Jour. Cin. Soo. Nat. 



Hist., i, 1878, 115 ; Reprint, 6 ; Revised List, Jonrn. Cin. Soc. Nat Hist., 1879, 179 ; 



Reprint, 13. 



Oius Bulgaria, Flbming, Brit. An., 56. 



Otus wiisonianus, Lesson, Tr. Orn., i, 1831, 110. 



Otus vulgaris, var. wilsonianut, Allen, Bull. M. C. Z,, iii, 1872, 180. 



General plumage above a variegation of dark-brown, falvoas and whitish, in small 

 pattern; breast more fulvous, belly whiter, the former sharply striped, the latter 

 striped and elaborately barred, with blackish ; quills and tail mottled and closely barred 

 with fulvous and dark- brown ; face pale ; with black touches and eye patches ; bill and 

 «law9 blackish. Ear tufts of 8-12 feathers. Length, 14-15 ; wing, 11-12 ; tail, 5-6. 



Habitat, Temperate North America at large. 



