The Short-eared Owl 



Recognition Marks. — Little hawk to crow size; general streaked appearance, 

 dark brown on buff; inconspicuous ear-tufts; semi-terrestrial habits. 



Nesting. — Nest: On the ground or at the end of a short under-ground tunnel: a 

 few sticks, grass, and feathers mark the spot, or else the bird lays on the bare earth. 

 Eggs: 4-9; subspherical. Av. size, 39.9 x 31.2 (1.57 x 1.23). Season: April; one brood. 



General Range. — Nearly cosmopolitan. In North America breeds irregularly 

 south from northern Alaska and Greenland to California, Kansas, and Massachusetts; 

 winters casually from the milder-climated of the northern states south to Guatemala. 

 Resident in the Hawaiian Islands. 



Distribution in California. — Common migrant and fairly common winter 

 resident in marshy or open situations, chiefly west of the Sierras. A rare breeder in 

 the larger marshes — definitely recorded from Los Bafios (Bishop) and New Hope, 

 Fresno County (Tyler) ; inferentially from San Diego, San Pedro, and San Francisco 

 Bay. 



Authorities. — Heermann (Otus brachyotus), Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ser. 2, 

 ii., 1853, p. 261 (Suisun, Calif.); Miller, Condor, vol. xii., 1910, p. 12 (fossil); Tyler, 

 Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 9, 1913, p. 48 (San Joaquin Valley, breeding habits). 



IN SECTIONS where all three birds are common, a rough-and-ready 

 division of territory has been agreed upon by the Long-eared, Short- 

 eared, and Burrowing Owls — Owlia est omnis divisa in partes tres. To 

 the Long-eared Owl has fallen the right to search groves, thickets and 

 piney woods; to the Burrowing Owl belong all pastures and the open 

 sage ; whilst the Short-eared has chosen meadows, rye grass areas, swampy 

 bottoms, and all expanses of rush and reed. This equitable arrangement 

 regards, of course, only Owls, for the last-named species has always a 

 keenly contesting rival of his claims in the person of the Marsh Hawk, 

 or Harrier {Circus c. hudsonius). So sharp has the rivalry become, to 

 interpret the situation fancifully, that the Owl, no longer content with a 

 monopoly of the night rights, hunts over the contested preserve on all 

 cloudy days, and on some bright ones as well. Indeed, he has almost 

 forgotten the family tradition which enjoins upon all good Owls careful 

 avoidance of sunlight, and seems not at all disconcerted thereby. 



Let no one suppose that because the bird under consideration has 

 abbreviated ear-tufts, he is anywise "short" on hearing. On the con- 

 trary, his ear-parts are enormously developed. Part the feathers on 

 the side of the head, bringing the ear-coverts forward, and you will see 

 it, an ear-opening some two inches long — as long, in fact, as the skull 

 is high, and proportionately broad. 



It is more than a coincidence that these marsh prowlers, the Harrier 

 and the Short-eared Owl, should be provided with such a remarkable 

 auditory apparatus. When one considers the circumstances of their life, 

 the reason for this common provision becomes very plain. In a thicket 

 of reeds, especially if they be dry, one hears a great deal more than he 



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