ORNITHOLOGIST 
-AND- 
OOLOGIST. 
$1.00 per 
Annum. 
Joseph M. Wade, Editor and Publisher. 
Established, March, 1875. 
Single Copy, 
10 Cents. 
VOL. VI. 
NORWICH, CONN., JANUARY, 1882. 
NO. II. 
American Long-eared Owl. 
CAPT. CHAS. E. BENDIRE. 
Asto Americanus is one of the most com¬ 
mon species of the Owl family, and is found 
nearly everywliere in suitable localities 
over the entire Pacific coast, as well as to 
the eastward of the Rocky Mountains. 
Every creek bottom, extensive or not, as 
long as it contains a few patches of dense 
willow thickets and undergrowth, will be 
found to be inhabited by one or more 
pairs of these birds, if close search is made 
for them; but as they are almost if not 
entirely nocturnal they are seldom seen, 
even in localities where they are compara¬ 
tively common. As far as my own limited 
observations go, this species seems to be 
more partial to somewhat open country, 
than to dense and continuous forests. It is 
quite probable, however, that it may be 
equally plenty in such localities when care¬ 
fully looked for, which I have never done. 
The first nests of the Long-eared Owl 
were found by me at Fort Lapwai, Idaho, 
on April i6th, 1871. I found three nests 
on that day all situated in dense willow 
thickets growing near a small creek, and all 
three within a few hundred yards of each 
other. The nests occupied by them were 
old Crows’ nests. The sides of these had 
been built tip a couple of inches higher, 
making them quite deep and hiding the 
birds from view. They were lined with old 
grass, a number of leaves and feathers. 
The nests looked rather dilapidated from 
below and a feather or two could usually 
be seen hanging down on the sides, indica¬ 
ting plainly that the occupant was not a 
Crow, whose nest always looks trim and 
neat from below. They were about twelve 
feet from the ground in heavy willow tops, 
and a shake of the bush on which the nest 
was placed would cause the Owl to fly on a 
neighboring willow, showing her disapprov¬ 
al of the proceeding by a frequent snapping 
of the bill. One nest contained six eggs, 
slightly incubated, another five, the remain¬ 
ing one three. The two last sets were fresh. 
I took thirteen more sets of eggs of this 
species during the season of 1871, the last 
one on June 6th, probably a second laying, 
and found several others with voting ones 
in various stages of growth. Most of these 
nests were old Crows’ nests that had been 
somewhat repaired. Two pairs of birds 
took up their quarters in old Magpies’ nests 
and two others in hollow cotton-wood trees. 
In one of the last cases a Red-shafted 
Flicker had excavated a hole directly over 
the one occujiied by the Owls, and the two 
entrance holes, although on different sides 
of the stump, which was only about twelve 
feet high, were not over two feet apart. 
These birds seemed to live harmoniously 
together. They are the only instances 
where I have found this species breeding 
in hollow trees (a fact not previously no¬ 
ticed, I believe), although I have taken over 
forty nests of these birds since then, and 
have observed a still larger number con¬ 
taining young. Now and then this Owl 
built a nest of its own. I found several 
such near Camp Harney, Oregon One of 
these on April 4th, 1877, and this is at the 
same time the earliest record of my finding 
their eggs. This nest was placed in a 
thick bunch of dry willows, about ten feet 
from the ground, and was tolerably well 
built, composed externally of small sticks 
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