Nestand Eggs of the Short-eared Owl. 
By G. F. TiRENNINGER, BEATTIE, KANSAS. 
During the spring of 1884 it was my good for- 
tune to find tlie Short-eared Owl (Asio accipitri- 
nus) breeding. Like most of the owls, they are 
residents, but are found most plentifully during 
the colder months. In the middle ol April nest- 
ing is first begun. Their nest is a mere depres- 
sion in a bunch of old grass. The owls inhabit 
the vast uninhabited prairies along sloughs, where 
the banks shelter them from the cold winds of 
winter and the burning rays of the sun in sum- 
mer. A great number of their nests are burnt 
every spring by the prairie fires, and after the 
first set has been destroyed a second set are laid. 
This I think was; the case with my sets. 
My first set was taken on May 1st, and con- 
tained seven eggs of the pure white surface and 
spherical form so common with owls: The sec- 
ond set, of six eggs, was taken May 4tli, and in- 
cubation was slight in both. 
The ears or tufts of this species are only seen 
when the birds are looking at any object, as at 
other times they are hidden. For the past two 
seasons I have been requested to try and obtain 
some sets of their eggs, by some of our most ad- 
vanced oologists, and many weary searches and 
tramping over prairies have only proved to be 
repeated failures, and I have not found nor seen 
any of their nests since. 
The food of this species consists chiefly of mice, 
insects, and ground squirrels. Seldom, if ever, do 
they deprive the farmer of his chickens, and only 
in one instance have I known them to catch 
pigeons. This was while they were sitting on 
the outside of their coops during a severe snow 
storm, and the owls were probably driven to do 
this by hunger. The farmer is ignorant of this 
fact, however, and shoots them whenever oppor- 
tunity occurs. 1 have personally known boys to 
place an open steel trap upon a high pole. This 
seldom fails to catch an owl, as they perch on the 
pole at night. In the warmer part of the year 
these owls are rarely seen, and perhaps they seek 
remote places, in the shade of dark gullies, where 
they can live in peaceful solitude. 
O.&O. XI. Nov. 1886. p. 
