14G 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
These owls subsist principally on mice—especially meadow mice— 
rats and various insects. Sometimes they catch and devour small birds, 
but never, I think, molest poultry, either old or young. 
In the stomachs of five Barn Owls I found the following food materials: 
No. 
Date. 
Locality. 
Food-Materials. 
1 
April 20, 1879, . 
Delaware county. Pa.. . . 
Mice and fragments of beetles. 
2 
Nov. 14. 1880, . 
Chester county, Pa. 
Mice. 
3 
Oct. —. 1881, . 
Chester county, Pa. 
Feathers of Sparrow and bones of small mammal. 
4 
Sept. —, 1882. . 
Philadelphia county. Pa., . 
Mice. 
5 
May 21. 1S86, . 
Chester county, Pa. 
Mice. 
Family BUBONIDiE. Horned Owls, Etc. 
Genus ASIO Brisson. 
Asio wilsonianus (Less.). 
American Long-eared Owl; Cedar Owl. 
Description (Plate 86). 
“Ear tufts long and conspicuous ; eyes rather small; wings long ; tarsi and toes 
densely feathered ; upper parts mottled with brownish-black, fulvous, and ashy- 
white, the former predominating ; breast pale-fulvous, with longitudinal stripes of 
brownish-black ; abdomen white ; every feather with a wide longitudinal stripe, and 
with transverse stripes of brownish-black ; legs and toes pale-fulvous, usually un¬ 
spotted, but frequently with irregular narrow transverse stripes of dark-brown ; 
eye nearly encircled with black ; other feathers of the face ashy-white ; with minute 
lines of black ; ear-tufts brownish-black edged with fulvous and ashy-wnite ; quills 
pale-fulvous at their bases, with irregular transverse bands of brown ; interior 
coverts of the wing pale-fulvous, frequently nearly white ; the larger widely tipped 
with black ; tail brown, with several irregular transverse bands of ashy-fulvous, 
which are mottled, as on the quills ; bill and claws dark ; irides yellow. 
“Total length : Female about 13 inches; extent about 38; wing 11 to 11£ ; tail 6 
inches. Male rather smaller”— B. B. of N. A. 
Habitat. —Temperate North America. 
Owing to the fact that these birds oftentimes conceal themselves dur¬ 
ing the daytime in cedar trees, the local appellation of “ Cedar Owl’’has 
arisen. The Long-eared Owl is a resident and one of the most abundant 
of all the owl tribe in this state. While owls usually lead a solitary life 
or associate in pairs, we find the subject of this sketch to be social and 
gregarious, associating commonly in parties of from twelve to twenty- 
five individuals. During the winter months, if not molested, they often 
take up a residence in the dark retreats furnished by the numerous conif¬ 
erous trees growing around the habitations of man. Li relation to a 
party of these owls Dr. William B. Stavely, Lahaska, Bucks county, 
Pa., writes me as follows: “For over twenty years I have had congre¬ 
gated in my lawn from fifty to seventy-five owls. They are peaceable 
and quiet, only on rare occasions would you know one was about. On 
