Species VI. STEIS BRACHYOTOS. 
SHORT-EARED OWL. 
[Plate XXXIII. Fig. 3.] 
TuRTON, Syst. p. Wl.—Arct. Zool. p. 229, No. 116.— Lath, i., 124.— Xa ChoucUS, 
oil la grand Cheviche, Buff, i., PI. enl. 438.* 
This is another species common to both continents, being found in 
Britain as far north as tlie Orkney isles, where it also breeds ; building 
its nest upon the ground, amidst the heath ; arrives and disappears in 
the south parts of England with the Woodcock, that is in October and 
April ; consequently does not breed there. It is called at Hudson's 
Bay the Mouse Hawk ; and is described as not flying like other Owls in 
search of prey ; but sitting quiet on a stump of a tree, watching for 
mice. It is said to be found in plenty in the woods near Chatteau bay, 
on the coast of Labrador. In the United States it is also a bird of 
passage, coming to us from the north in November, and departing in 
April. The bird represented in the plate was shot in New Jersey, a 
few miles below Philadelphia, in a thicket of pines. It has the stern 
aspect of a keen, vigorous, and active bird ; and is reputed to be an 
excellent mouser. It flies frequently by day, particularly in dark cloudy 
weather, takes short flights, and, when sitting and looking sharply 
around, erects the two slight feathers that constitute its horns, which 
are at- such times very noticeable ; but otherwise not perceivable. No 
person, on slightly examining this bird after being shot, would suspect 
it to be furnished with horns ; nor are they discovered but by careful 
search, or previous observation on the living bird. Bewick, in his His- 
tory of British Birds, remarks, that this species is sometimes seen in 
companies ; twenty-eight of them being once counted in a turnip field 
in November. 
Length fifteen inches, extent three feet four inches ; general color 
above dark brown, the feathers broadly skirted with pale yellowish 
brown ; bill large, black ; irides rich golden yellow, placed in a bed of 
deep black, which radiates outwards all around, except towards the bill, 
where the plumage is whitish ; ears bordered with a semicircular line of 
black and tawny yellow dots ; tail rounded, longer than usual with 
Owls, crossed with five bands of dark brown, and as many of yellow 
*We add the following synonyines: Slrix hrachyotos, Lath. Ltd. Orn. p. 55. — 
Sirix Ulida, Linn. Sjst. ed. 10, p. 93. — Temm. Man. d' Orn. i., p. 99. 
(93) 
