LONG-EARED OWL. 
139 
finely marked with small curving spots of white; back and wings 
dark brown, sprinkled and spotted with white, pale ferruginous 
and dusky; primaries barred with brownish yellow and dusky, 
darkening towards the tips; secondaries more finely barred, and 
powdered with white and dusky ; tail rounded at the end, of the 
same length with the wings, beautifully barred and marbled 
with dull white and pale rustyj on a dark brown ground; throat 
and breast clouded with rusty, cream, black and white; belly 
beautifully streaked with large arrow-heads of black; legs and 
thighs plain pale rusty, feathered to the claws, which are blue 
black, large and sharp; inside of the wing brownish yellow, 
with a large spot of black at the root of the primaries. 
This was a female. Of the male I cannot speak precisely; 
though from the numbers of these birds which I have examined 
in the Autumn, when it is difficult to ascertain their sex, I con- 
jecture that they differ very little in colour. 
About six or seven miles below Philadelphia, and not far 
from the Delaware, is a low swamp,* thickly covered with 
trees, and inundated during great part of the year. This place 
is the resort of great numbers of the Qua-bird, or Night Raven, 
{Jirdea nycticorax) where they build in large companies. On 
the twenty-fifth of April, while wading among the dark recesses 
of this forest, observing the habits of these birds, I discovered 
a Long-eared Owl, which had taken possession of one of their 
nests, and was sitting; on mounting to the nest, I found it con- 
tained four eggs, and breaking one of these, the young appeared 
almost ready to leave the shell. There were numbers of the 
Qua-birds’ nests on the adjoining trees all around, and one of 
them actually on the same tree. Thus we see how unvarying 
are the manners of this species, however remote and different 
the countries may be where it has taken up its residence. 
* Commonly known by the name of Cocker's swamp, from time immemorial 
a noted place for the shooting of Woodcocks. 
