o 
Asio wilsonianus . 
Ball's Hill, Concord, Mass. 
.337. 
Nov. 17. 
! 
( 
full length with talons wide spread apparently with the ex- 
pectation of picking a mouse off the crown of ray hat. Indeed 
its behavior became so threatening that I was positively a- 
fraid to continue the imitation. Shortly after I stopped it 
the bird alighted on the topmost slender twig of a scrub oak 
within four or five yards of me while the male re turne d to 
his former perch in the pine. I had them both alternately 
under my glass for several minutes longer and in a sufficient- 
ly good light to be able to see all their characteristic 
markings distinctly. One bird sat rather erect, the other 
took a crouching posture with the plumage so puffed out that 
the bird looked nearly as big as a Hen. Both showed their 
ear tufts but they were not held erect as represented by 
stuffed specimens and drawings; on the contrary they drooped 
backward nearly or quite touching the shorter feathers of the 
crown . 
never 
I have seen any Owls so alert and animated as were 
A 
these. They kept their heads in almost constant motion turn- 
ing them quickly in every direction looking not only down to- 
wards the ground but on every side and occasionally even up- 
ward as if they hoped to discover something of interest among 
the surrounding branches. 
But most striking and characteristic of all was 
their flight. Absolutely noiseless and exquisitely easy and 
/oj 
