SHORT-EARED OWL. 



ASIO ACCIPITRETOS. 



Char. Above, mottled with dark brown, tawny, and buffish white ; 

 below, paler ; feet feathered ; ear-tufts inconspicuous. Some examples 

 are much paler, as if the colors had faded. Length about 15 inches. 



Nest. On the ground amid tall grass, and composed of a few twigs and 

 a few feathers. 



Eggs. 3-6 ; white and oval ; 1.60 X 1.20. 



This is another of those nocturnal wanderers which now and 

 then arrive amongst us from the northern regions, where they 

 usually breed. It comes to Hudson's Bay from the South 

 about May, where it makes a nest of dry grass on the ground, 

 and, as usual, has white eggs. After rearing its brood it de- 

 parts for the South in September, and in its migrations has 

 been met with as far as New Jersey, near Philadelphia, where, 

 according to Wilson, it arrives in November and departs in 

 April. Pennant remarks that it has been met with in the 



