72 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[18.] 1. Strix otus. (Linn.) Long-eared Owl. 



Genus. Strix. Linn. Sub-genus. Asio. Antiq. 



Long-eared Owl. Penn. Arct. ZooL, ii., p. 229, sp. 115. 



Strix otus. Lath. Ind., i., p. 58. 



Long-eared Owl. (Stri.v otus.) Wilson. Orn., vi., p. 73, pi. 51, f. 3. 



Strix otus. Temm., i., p. 102. Selby. Brit. Orn., 8vo., p. 52. Bonap. Syn., p. 37, No. 28. 



Cuvier, Reg. An., Second edit., i., p. 341. 

 Ammisk-oho. {Beaver-Owl.) Cree Indians. 



This bird, which is an inhabitant of both hemispheres, has been found in America 

 as far north as latitude 60°, and probably exists as high as the forests extend. 

 It is plentiful in the woods skirting - the plains of the Saskatchewan, frequents the 

 coast of Hudson's Bay only in the summer, and retires into the interior in the 

 winter. It resides all the year in the United States, and perhaps is not a rare 

 bird in any part of North America ; but, as it comes seldom abroad in the day, 

 fewer specimens are obtained of it than of the other Owls. It preys chiefly on 

 quadrupeds of the genus arvicola, and in summer destroys many beetles. It lays 

 three or four roundish white eggs, sometimes on the ground, at other times in the 

 deserted nests of other birds in low bushes. Mr. Hutchins says it lays in April, 

 and that the young fly in May. The Indians brought me a specimen, killed at 

 the nest, which was in a bush, and contained one egg, in May ; and Mr. Drum- 

 mond found a nest on the ground, in the same neighbourhood, containing three 

 eggs, on the 5th of July, and killed both the birds. Wilson says that the young 

 are greyish-white until nearly full grown,, and roost during the day close together 

 on the limb of a tree, amid the thickest of the foliage. On comparing the above- 

 mentioned eggs with those of the English Long-eared Owl, the American ones 

 proved to be smaller, measuring only an inch and a half in length and 1"27 inch, 

 in breadth ; while the English ones measured 1"8 inch, in length, and 1'54 in 

 breadth. The form and colour were the same in both. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed at Carlton House, 5th July, 1827. 



Colour.— Bill and claivs bluish-black. Irides reddish-orange. The wiry feathers at the base 

 of the bill, forming part of the facial circle, are greyish -white, with black shafts and tips ; the pos- 

 terior broader half of the circle covering the operculum of the concha is dull yellowish-brown, 



