LAND BIRDS. 309 



Mr. Purdy writes from Plymouth, Washtenaw county : " Quite abundant 

 here a few years ago, but now quite rare and will soon become extinct 

 unless there is some law to protect them. During my experience, of the 

 past 61 years, I have never known them to kill poultry, but a fool with a 

 gun will not allow one to exist if he can prevent it." It is recorded by 

 White at Mackinac Island, and by Major Boies at Neebish Island, St. 

 Mary's River. In Marquette county O. B. Warren calls it uncommon, 

 but it is resident there and breeds. Both Judge Steere and W. P. Melville 

 state that at Sault Ste. Marie it is the most abundant species of owl. At 

 Petersburg, Monroe county, Jerome Trombley says it is now nearly extinct. 



This owl sees well in the day time and occasionally hunts by day in 

 cloudy weather. According to Bendire mating begins in February, early 

 or late according to the latitude, and in the middle states the eggs are 

 laid from the second week in March to the first week in April. Mr. Covert 

 states that at Ann Arbor it nests from the last week in March to the middle 

 of April, and Dr. Gibbs says that C. W. Gunn found Barred Owls nesting 

 in the hollow limb of a sycamore tree in Kent county, April 12, 1879. 



In Kalamazoo county the late Richard Westnedge found a nest April 

 28, 1891, containing three young birds, and another, evidently an old 

 hawk's nest, in a basswood, 60 feet up, had a single egg well advanced in 

 incubation, April 9, 1893. K. R. Wilhelm found one egg and a two-day-old 

 chick in a cavity of a dead birch in the same county, April 21, 1887, the nest 

 made of dead leaves and feathers and nearly level with the opening. A 

 second nest found in the same vicinity, April 15, 1891, by the same collector, 

 had three eggs containing advanced embryos. It usually nests in hollow 

 trees, very rarely in an old nest of hawk or Crow. The eggs are usually 

 three, sometimes but two, very rarely four. But one brood is reared in 

 a season, and the period of incubation is variously given as three to four 

 weeks. The eggs are white, unspotted, and average 1.94 by 1.65 inches. 



Probably this is the noisest of our owls. It has a variety of harsh screams, 

 some of which are almost blood-curdling. Bendire speaks of "the un- 

 earthly, wierd call-notes peculiar to this species, which surpass in startling 

 effect those of all other owls "with which I am famihar." He states further 

 that the common notes are "hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo-too-too." It often calls 

 in the day time in dark weather, and is most noisy when mating, several 

 birds often uniting to form an indescribable chorus. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher sums up the food habits of this owl in the following 

 words: "While the general statements of certain authors, especially the 

 earlier ones, charge the bird with the destruction of poultry, game and 

 small birds, such destructive habits are comparatively uncommon. That 

 it does occasionally make inroads upon the poultry yard, and does more or 

 less damage among game birds, is true; but such acts are exceptional, and 

 the examination of a large number of stomachs shows that the greater 

 part of its food consists of mammals. And it is to be noted that among 

 the list are some of the most destructive rodents the farmer has to contend 

 with. If a fair balance is struck therefore, it must be considered that 

 this owl is on the whole beneficial and hence should occupy a place on the 

 list of birds to be protected" (Hawks and Owls of the U. S., 1892, 151-152). 

 Of 89 stomachs reported upon by Dr. Fisher, 5 contained poultry or game; 

 13, other birds; 46, mice; 18, mammals; 4, frogs; 1, a Hzard; 2, fish; 14, 

 insects; 2, spiders; and 9, crayfish. 



