260 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



me the following note on a late nesting record, received from Mrs. 

 W. H. Edwards, of Fairhope, Ala.: "Mrs. Edwards writes that one of 

 her pupils, who was familiar with the screech owl, had found a nest of 

 eggs in an old nicker hole some time late in the summer of 1929. The 

 boy visited the place again on October 15, 1929, and found the young 

 well developed and apparently ready to fly; and when Mrs. Edwards 

 accompanied him there a few days later, to band the young birds, 

 they had gone." 



Behavior. — Helen M. Edwards (1932), presumably the Mrs. 

 Edwards referred to above, tells an interesting story of the successful 

 taming of a screech owl by Mrs. Julian Dyer, of Fairhope, Ala. The 

 young owl was taken from the nest when a week old, on July 19, 1930, 

 and banded. She kept the owl all through the following winter, 

 when it became quite tame and very friendly. "When mating time 

 came, in spring, she released it and it flew away. "A few nights later" 

 the owl returned, and since then it "has returned to the yard two or 

 three times a week." Mrs. Dyer says that the bird often "enters 

 during the night (her bedroom window being unscreened). The click 

 of the aluminum band on her foot announces the bird's presence as 

 she lights on the back of a chair. * * * At the time of writing 

 (November 19, 1931)" the owl was "still paying regular visits to her 

 human friends." 



Voice.— Edward H. Forbush (1927) writes: "The little Screech Owl 

 of the south is known in Louisiana as the 'Shivering Owl' ; and along 

 Bayou Lafourche when its notes banish sleep, and the resourceful 

 'Cajun' wishes to ward off the ills that he believes otherwise sure to 

 follow, he must arise from his couch and turn his left shoe upside down. 

 Then the cries are supposed to be stilled. This charm does not work, 

 however, on the lower Mississippi, where one must turn his left trouser 

 or 'pants' pocket inside out." 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — North America from southeastern Alaska and southern 

 Canada south to northern Mexico; nonmigratory. 



The range of the screech owl extends north to southeastern Alaska 

 (Sitka); southern British Columbia (Chilliwack, Penticton, Okanagan, 

 and probably Sicamous); probably southern Saskatchewan (Eastend 

 and rarely Regina); Manitoba (Whitewater Lake and Aweme); 

 North Dakota (Fargo); Minnesota (Crookston, Elk River, and St. 

 Paul) ; Wisconsin (La Crosse and Kelleybrook) ; Michigan (Newberry, 

 Neebish Island, and Douglas Lake); southern Ontario (Port Sydney 

 and Ottawa); southern Quebec (possibly Beauport and Montreal); 

 Maine (Dover and Calais); and probably New Brunswick (Grand 

 Manan). East to probably New Brunswick (Grand Manan); Maine 



