« f S Ï S i f g
I .ONG-KAKJU) OWL.
: STRIX <rrvs, Linn.
PLATE CCCLXXXIII. Male.
• H i s , n u c h H abandawt i » , « Middle » d Extern I
lantid 1),strict* than in the Southern or Western parts. My friend Or
Bachman has never observed it in South, «Sarolina; nor have I mM
. '•»«¡^»«•iorabywhor.Mm the MMA# p i below then,,,..,
ton« Olio, Itis not very rare & the upper part, of Indian, Illinois,
Ohio, and Kentucky, whereveSthe country «-well wooded. In the
Barrens of Kentucky its predilection iorwMs ' i s rendered apparent by
its not being found ¿ f e « i e r e than in the " Groves;» and ifrwould seeni
that it very rarely extends its search ,foi food beyond the skirte of those
delightful retreats?. In Pennsylvania tad. elsewhere to the eastward I
hare found it most numerous 'on or neat: the « ¿ ¡ f e ^ f o u r mimt .,.0 l ,,
clear: m ® « » Streams, .wiefey during the day, it is not uncommon to
We it pei-chedfenthe top of a low bdsh„or fir.' At!sufch times it stands
with the body erScV'but the tarsi W I S » «fetfcg on a branch, is
t'hir manner of alm'oU all our Owls. The A m then seemi„thetogest
part, the bodybemg much-more slender thattAC® usuaUy-repWsenied
Now and then upraises l i l u l s t a m f e with.'its&egs and .feckie.x
tended, as- if-the 'better to mark the approach of an intruders Its eyes
which wen. closed when it wa.s first observed, are opened on the least,
riota* and it seeing to squhit at you in aAost grotesque manner-althottgMt
is not difficult to approach very near it. It rarely on such
occasions takes to wing, but throws itself mio the thicket, and makes
off on foot by means,.of pretty long leaps.
1 have never .seen this bird moving „ „ wing t o a s l l j f i l , i (mt
to enable nic. «ispwik will, certainty of its: mode « flight, especially as
it is one of our mast nocturnal species, seldom bej-immfg to for
prey befcife i t® quite dusky. In the morning I hare never seen oue
afeaad at however early an hour I have been on the look-out.
The I.ong-oaml Owl is . « S a t e p i » S t » M M h S ^ which its
young are reared, and generally accommodate itself with an
abandoned ne t of^omo other bfei that proves of sufficient mm, who.
LONG-EARED OWL. 578
ther it be high, or low, in the fissure of a rock or on the ground. Sometimes
however it maifees, ,a nest itself, and this I found to.be the case
in oàffiinstance near the Juniatta River in Pennsylvania, where it was
composed of green twigs with tho leaflets adhering, and lined with
fresh grass and .sheep wool, but without feathers. The eggs- are usually
four,, uearlv equally rounded at both ends, thin-shelled, smooth, when
newly deposited pure White, with a slight blush, which is no longer
observable when they have been for some time sitten upon-, their average
lengtli an inch and a half, their greatest breadth an inch and
three sixtceriths.Boefuund eggs of this bird on the 15th of April, and
again on the 25th of Juno, which induces, me to believe that it rears
two broods in the season in the State of Pennsylvania, as /it probably
¡fell also to the westward, WmsoN relates the following instance of
its indifference. asÇf o the. place selected for its eggs, " About six or
seven miles below Philadelphia, and not far from the Delaware, is a
low swamp, thickly covered with trees, and inundated during great
part of the year. This :place is the resort of great numbers of the
Qua-bird pr Night Ràyen (Atrdea Nycticorax), where they build in
large companies. On the 25th of April, while wading among the dark
recesses of this place, Observing the habits of these birds, I discovered
a Long-oared Owl, whieh had taken possession of one of their nests,
and was sitting ;; on mounting to the nest, I found it contained four
'fgfs, and breaking one of these, the young appeared almost ready to
leave the-shell.. There were number« of: tjie Qua-birds' nests on the
adjoining trees all around, and one of them actually on the same tree."
When encamped in the woods, I have frequently heard the notes
of this bird at nigh^i Its cry is prolonged and plaintive, though consisting
oï not more than two or three notes repeated at intervals,
Dr RlcHaansoN states that it has been,found " as far north as Lat.
60 Yand probably exists as high as the forests extend. It is plentiful in
the woods skirting the plains of the Saskatchewan, frequents the coast of
Hudson's Bay: only in the summer, ahd retires into the interioi in the
winter. I t resides all the year in the United States, and perhaps is
not a. rare bird in any part of North America ; but as it comes seldom
abroad in the day, fewer specimens are Obtained of it than of the other
Owls, It preys chiefly on quadrupeds of the genus Amçola, and in
summer destroys many beetle's. It lays three or four roundish white
eggà sometimes, on the ground, at other times in the deserted nests of