140 



SHORT-EARED OWL. 



SHORT-EARED OWL 



TOtus brachyotus, Linn. 



PLATE XXXVIII.— Male. 



Although this species is by no means scarce in almost any part of the 

 LTnited States, in the latter half of autumn and during winter, very few indi- 

 viduals spend the summer south of the Great Pine Swamp of Pennsylvania, 

 where, however, some occasionally breed. In Nova Scotia, its nest has 

 frequently been met with, and in Newfoundland it is as common as the 

 Barred Owl is in Louisiana. In winter I have found it so plentiful in the 

 Floridas, that I have shot seven in the course of a morning, while I was at 

 General Hernandez'. Indeed I was surprised to see the great number of 



