VoL. 1. 
BKOCKPORT, N. Y., NOVEMBER, 1885. 
N o. 
UjYCLE EFH’S FHILOSO- 
FHY. 
‘ 'You cairt tell by cle cropins, 
Wots away down in de rocks 
An’ you can’t tell uebber wot to Duy 
Ainonjr do fancy stocks.’ 
‘Dis yerf bas in ae fiehurs. 
Bases, loiii,' with silver glances ;* 
An’ ’destock de greeneys go fur 
Am de riskies’ sort ob chances.” 
-^Arizona SiL\En Bext. 
THE AMERICAJS^ LOjYG- 
EARED OWE. 
ASIO AMEKICANU8. 
This bird is very evenly distribut¬ 
ed over the United JStates, and is 
one of the most common of the owls. 
It subsists cliieHy on small quadru¬ 
peds and birds, being an espet.-ial 
enemy of the held mouse and pocket 
gopher. Arriving in the northern 
states early in the spring, it begins 
to nest about the tirst of May, and 
the usual set of four or live eggs are 
generally deposited in a deserted 
nest of some hawk or owl by the 
titteenth of the month. The eggs 
are oval, nearly round and of that 
peculiar glossy white color always 
noticed in the eggs of the smaller 
owls. They measure about 1.50 by 
1.22 inches or somewhat larger. 
More often the number is live. The 
eggs of this species may be found in 
this latitude from the 10th to the 
loth of May, according to the late¬ 
ness of the spring. But here, in 
southern Minnesota, the young are 
almost always half grown by the 
first of April, ddie young leave the 
nest as soon as they are able to fly 
I well and in a few days can take care 
of themselves. They are rather soli¬ 
tary as a general thing, but in one 
instance the writer found four occu¬ 
pied nests within fifty feet of each 
! other. In this case the young were 
just begining to hy, and the little 
grove was full of they. The parents 
I are ever present and use various 
stratagems to delude the intruder, 
sometimes fluttering about as if one 
wing were broken and then, tailing 
; in that, will perch over the intruder, 
hissing barking and hooting in a great 
variety of ways. This little owl is 
more common than may^ be supposed, 
for, nesting in dark groves and 
heavy timber bottoms, little is seen 
of it except by students of nature. 
It makes a very nice pet if taken 
when young. The adult female is 
larger than the male, as it is in the 
case of all birds ot prey, measuring 
about fourteen inches in length. 
The general color is light brown ; 
underparts white with traverse 
bands of very light brown. In the 
male the color is considerably dark¬ 
er than in the female. The “ears” 
are tufts of soft feathers about one 
and one-half or two inches in length. 
They are light brown in the female 
but almost black in the adult male. 
Geo. II. Selovek, 
Lake City, Minn. 
Advertisers.—We will circulate 
about 5000 copies next issue. 
