OF NEW ENGLAND. 331 
seems to consist chiefly of mice and insects. Occasionally, 
when startled on the ground, they move off in leaps, more 
quickly than one might suppose them to be capable of doing, 
but they commonly take to wing. Audubon speaks of them 
as common in the Floridas during the winter, and says: ‘ In- 
deed 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 suddenly wakened from 
sound sleep, then sailing to some distance in a direct course, 
and dropping among the thickest herbage.” He adds: ‘I 
never started two birds at once, but always found them singly 
at distances of from twenty to a hundred yards; * * * .” 
The Short-eared Owls are partially migratory. 
(d). Their notes, if they have any, I have neither heard, 
nor seen described. 
Ill. SYRNIUM 
(A) cinerzum. Great Gray Owl. Cinereous Oul. 
(Very rare so far to the southward as Massachusetts, where 
it occurs in winter only.) 
(ad). Extreme length, thirty inches. General colors, cinere- 
ous or ashy-brown, and a paler shade. ‘+ Waved” above; 
streaked on the breast; barred on the belly, tail, primaries, ete. 
(b). One egg in Dr. Brewer’s cabinet measures 2°25 X 1°78 
of an inch. 
(c). The Great Gray Owls exceed in size all other American 
species, and stand no less than two feet high. They seem, 
however, to be much less spirited than many others of their 
tribe. Mr. Dall considers them very stupid, and states that 
they may in day-time be caught by the hand. They are Arctic 
birds, and do not occur in New England except as very rare 
winter-visitors. I observed one in some pine-woods near Mil- 
ton, in the early part of 1875, towards the end of an excep- 
tionally severe winter. He was roosting in a partially dead 
tree, at about thirty feet from the ground. He instantly per- 
ceived my approach, and watched me dreamily. He refused 
