THE BIRDS OF SPRINGFIELD AND VICINITY. 21 



were interfered with by the mother hawk, and even the doves 

 that had been driven out were permitted to nest within a few 

 feet of their former home. The hawks nearly, if not quite, 

 exterminated the mice that at first were so numerous. 



364. Pandion haliaetus carolinensis (Gmel.)- 



American Osprey. Common during both the spring and 

 autumn migration; often seen here near the Connecticut river, 

 during the summer, but I have no knov^ledge of its breeding 

 in the vicinity of Springfield. Once while on one of the 

 meadows bordering the river, on a foggy day in April, I saw 

 an Osprey that had been shot fall to the ground slightly 

 wounded, and there uttered the most piteous screams that I 

 ever heard come from a bird. Immediately, there appeared, 

 out of the fog above, a dozen other Ospreys, who for a long 

 time circled around their injured relative with cries of 

 sympathy. 



365. Strix pratincola Bonap. American Bakn Owl. 

 Accidental visitor from the South; one was taken in Spring- 

 field, in May, 1868, which is one of the few Massachusetts 

 records. (See Allen's Rarer Birds of Massachusetts.) 



366. Asio wilsonianus (I/CSS.)- American Long- 

 eared Owl. Tolerably common resident. 



367. Asio accipitrinus (Pall.)- Short-eared Owl. 

 A common spring and autumn visitor. During open winters a 

 number stay with us, and I have seen it here in January, when 

 the snow was very deep; it occasionally breeds, but at no 

 season now is it as numerous as fifteen years ago, when it was 

 often found in colonies. Mr. E. O. Damon stated that he once 

 saw a hundred of these birds together on the Northampton 

 meadows. 



368. Syrnium nebulosum (Forst.)- Barred-Owl. 

 A rather uncommon resident, but occasionally quite numerous 

 in late autumn. Mr. William Street of Easthampton has 

 twice found the nest of this owl. (See Baird, Brewster & 

 Ridway's North American Birds, Vol. Ill, page 37.) 



