_Asio wilsonianus. Case 1, Fig. 17_
Distinguished by very long ear-tufts. L. 14-3/4.
_Range._ Temperate North America. Winters south to
Georgia and Louisiana.
Washington, common P.R. Ossining, common P.R.
Cambridge, rare, P.R. but sometimes common in fall
and winter. N. Ohio, uncommon P.R. Glen Ellyn,
rare, fall records only, Nov. 7-Dec. 14.
An Owl of evergreen clumps and dense growths, where its presence is
often betrayed by the litter below of undigested pellets of hair and
bones which Owls eject at the mouth. It is not a "hoot" Owl, and even
many ornithologists have not heard its notes, which are described as a
"soft-toned, slow _wu-hunk, wu-hunk_, and a low twittering, whistling
_dicky, dicky, dicky_." It is not a hole-inhabiting Owl and like the
Great Horned nests in an old Hawk, Crow, or Squirrel nest. Three to six
white eggs are laid in April.