GREAT GRAY OWL. 411 
facial area, legs and crissum pale, unmarked ; eye-patch blackish ; ear tufts of from 3-6 
feathers. Size of Otus. 
Habitat, Europe. Asia. Greenland. America. West Indies. 
Resident. Very common in winter, rare in summer. Breeds. The 
Short-eared Owl frequents swamps, borders of streams and fields. In 
‘winter they sometimes appear in considerable flocks and hunt in com- 
pany. A dozen or more are sometimes seen in fields and mounted 
on fences, on cloudy days, watching for mice or other prey. Mr. Kirk- 
patrick says it ‘“‘is believed to breed in the swamps of Sandusky,’ Mr. 
Langdon gives it as a fall, winter and spring visitor, but Dr. Howard H. 
Jones informs me that he has discovered the nest and eggs on the ground 
near Circleville. 
The Short-eared Owl usually nests on the ground, sometimes without 
any attempt at nest building, but generally collecting together a few 
sticks with feathers and grass. In some distant localities it excavates 
short burrowsin banks. The eggs are four or five, white, more oval than 
in most of this family, and measure 1.50 by 1.25. 
Genus SYRNIUM. Savigny. 
Size large. No ear tufts. Ears moderate, operculated. Eyes small. Facial discs 
large, complete. Tarsi and toes full feathered. 
SYRNIUM CINEREUM (Gm.) Bonap. 
Great Grey Owl. 
Syrnium cinereum, KIRKPATRICK, Ohio Farmer, viii, 1859, 107; Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1858, 
1859, 379.— WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 1861, 361; Reprint, 3.—Cougs, 
Birds of N. W., 1874, 308. LANGDON, Jourm. Cin. Geo. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 188; Re- 
print, 6; Revised List, Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 186; Reprint, 22. 
Syrnium lapponicum, var. cinereum, WHEATON, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 
1874, 1875, 570; Reprint, 10. 
Strix cinerea, GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 291. 
Syrnium cinereum, BONAPARTE, List, 1838, 6. 
Syrnium lapponicum, var. cinereum, RIDGWAY, in Coues’ Key, 1872, 204. 
Above, cinereous-brown, mottled in waves with cinereous white; below, these colors 
rather paler, disposed in streaks on the breast, in bars elsewhere ; quills and tail with five 
or six darker and lighter bars; the great disk similarly marked in regular concentric 
rings, An immense owl, one of tho largest of all, much exceeding any other of this 
country. Length, 24 feet; wing, 1}; tail a foot or more. 
Habitat, Northern North America, south in winter to Masssachusetts, Illinois and 
Calitornia. 
Hixtremely rare winter visitor. Mr. Kirkpatrick, adds this largest of 
North American Owls, “to our fauna in consequence of an Owl answer- 
