BIRDS OF PREY 
367. Short-eared Owl. Asio flammeus. 
Range. — Whole of North America, breeding 
from the middle portions of the United States 
northward, and wintering in the United States. 
White 
This species is of the size of the last, but is 
paler, has very short ear tufts, and is streaked 
beneath. Its habits are the same except that it 
frequently hunts, over the marshes and mead- 
ows, on dark days and towards dusk. 
Their four to seven pure white eggs are laid upon the ground in marshy 
places, sometimes upon a lining of sticks and weeds, and are generally under a 
bush, or close to an old log. Size of eggs 1.55 x 1.25. 
Short-eared Owl 
368. Barred Owl. Strix varia varia. 
Range. — Eastern North America, from 
the British Provinces, southward; west to 
the Rockies. 
This species is the most common of 
the large owls, and can be distinguished 
by its mottled and barred gray and white 
plumage, and lack of ear tufts; length 20 
inches. It is the bird commonly meant 
by the term “hoot owl”, and being strictly 
Barred Owl 
White 
nocturnal, is rarely seen flying in the day time, 
unless disturbed from its roosting place in the 
deep woods. Its food consists chiefly of rats, 
mice and frogs, and sometimes, but not often, 
poultry. It nests in the heart of large woods, 
generally in hollows of large trees, and less 
often in deserted Crow’s nests. They lay from 
two to four pure white eggs, averaging con- 
siderably smaller than those of the Great Horn- 
ed Owl ; size 1.95 x 1.65. 
368a. Florida Barred Owl. 
Strix varia alleni. 
Range. — Florida and the Gulf States; north 
to South Carolina, 
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