BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA 
147 
dull days and foggy evenings they were flying about in all directions. 
Never in all that time have I missed any poultry or have they inflicted 
any injury on anything of value. 
“ The first I noticed of their presence was the discovery of quite a pile 
of what appeared to be mice hair and bones, and on investigation found 
the Norway fir was the roosting place of to me at that time a vast num¬ 
ber of owls. They had ejected the bolus of hair and bones apparently of 
an army of tree-eating destructive mice, aiding the fruit-grower against 
one of the worst and most inveterate enemies. * * * * Their 
merits would fill sheets; the demerits nil.” 
Although it is true that the Long-eared Owls at times do construct 
their own nests, I am inclined to believe that these birds, in this region 
at least, prefer to occupy the deserted nests of other birds. I have on 
several occasions found the Long-eared Owls breeding, and always 
observed that they occupied the abandoned nests of crows or hawks. 
Audubon says : “ The Long-eared Owl is careless as to the situation in 
which its young are to be reared, and generally accommodates itself 
with the abandoned nest of some other bird that proves of sufficient 
size, whether it be high or low, in the fissure of a rock or on the ground. 
Sometimes, however, it makes a nest itself; and this I found to be the 
case in one instance near the Juniata river, in Pennsylvania, where it 
was composed of green twigs, with the leaflets adhering, and lined with 
fresh grass and wool, but without any feathers.” Of all our owls this 
species is, without doubt, the most serviceable to the farmer and horti¬ 
culturist, as it preys almost wholly on field-mice and other destructive 
little rodents. Unhappily, during the past four or five years there has 
been a rapid decrease in the number of these birds in many localities in 
Pennsylvania; this diminution, I judge, is largely due to the fact that 
the stuffed heads of these harmless and beneficial owls make an attrac¬ 
tive ornament for lovely woman’s headwear. 
The eggs of this bird vary considerably in size ; a small example in 
my possession measures about 1| by lj inches. 
Audubon says: “ It preys chiefly on quadrupeds of the genus Arvi- 
cola , and in summer destroys many beetles.” 
I have examined the stomachs of twenty-three Long-eared Owls and 
found that twenty-two of them had fed only on mice; the other exami¬ 
nation made of a specimen taken in the late spring, showed some bee¬ 
tles and portions of a small bird. 
