OF THE UNITED STATES 



233 



with the cosmopolitan Short-eared Owl, are the only two repre- 

 sentatives in this country of the genus Asio — the flrst-nanied 

 being the A. wttsonianiis of science, and the latter A. accipitrinus. 

 In my lifetime I have collected several specimens of either of 

 these forms, but more particularly the short-eared one. Long- 

 eared owls have the feather-horns yqvy conspicuous, — ornaments 

 that some authors call " ear-tufts," although they have nothing 

 whatever to do with the ears of the bird. Asio accipitrinus has 

 these feather-horns very small, and when one comes to handle 

 a recently shot specimen they are hardly at all apparent. They 

 only show when in life the bird becomes excited and erects them 

 to their utmost, while at the same time the other plumage of the 

 head is depressed. For one to indentify either of these two spe- 

 cies it must be remembered that we have no other mottled, 

 streaked and banded, dark-plumaged, very conspicuously tufted 

 owl in this country that has an average of only thirteen to six- 

 teen inches, except the American Long-eared Owl, — while the 

 short-eared one averaging but a trifle larger, with its tawny 

 plumage, boldly striped with dark brown, can easily be told, 

 when adult, by its rudimentary feather-horns. All owls lay 

 white eggs that are usually ovate in form, approaching the 

 spherical very closely in some examples. 



The Long-eared Owl commonly lays five eggs, the white shells 

 being finely granulated and rather glossy; and according to 

 Bendire this bird ''rarely constructs a nest of its own; usually 

 the last year's nest of a crow is slightly repaired by being built 

 up on the sides and lined with a little dry grass, a few dead 

 leaves, and feathers; some of the latter may nearly always be 

 seen hanging on the outside of the nest. Fully three-fourths of 

 the nests found by me occupied by these owls were those of the 

 Crow. Only a very few were evidently built by the birds them- 

 selves." 



Strange to relate, both Barn Owls and the long-eared species 

 have, in either case, been met with occasionally in flocks. Mr. 

 B. W. Evermann, formerly of the United States Fish Commis- 

 sion, once saw in California more than fifty of the former in a 

 flock among oak trees; while as many as fifteen of the latter 

 have been found in one tree at a time. 



At this writing I have before me a fine living specimen of a 

 subadult Long-eared Owl, kindly loaned me by Mr. Ed. S. 

 Schmid, the proprietor of the Animal Pet Emporium, of Wash- 



