TEXAS SCREECH OWL 265 



rank growth of beautiful tall sea oat." He says: "Often during the 

 daytime while travelling this stretch of road, I have seen all the above 

 mentioned mammals cross the road toward the beach. At night, 

 however, there must be a regular migration of mammals across the 

 road to feed on the wild oats. Travelling up this stretch of roadway 

 during warm summer nights, I have in one trip, seen with the aid of 

 my spotlight, and by flashing on my bright headlights quickly, as 

 many as twenty Florida Screech Owls and Florida Burrowing Owls 

 sitting in the roadway catching these mammals that pass back and 

 forth across this open stretch." 



OTUS ASIO MCCALLI (Cassin) 



TEXAS SCREECH OWL 



HABITS 



The above name is now restricted to the screech owls of southern 

 Texas, north to Bexar and Comal Counties, west to Kinney County, 

 and south to Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, Mexico. Formerly, under 

 the name of western mottled owl (Scops maccalli), its range was sup- 

 posed to extend through Texas to Arizona and New Mexico. More 

 recently other races have been described, restricting it to its present 

 range. Ridgway (1914) describes it as "larger than 0. a. asio, but 

 smaller than 0. a. naevius and paler than either; gray phase much 

 more coarsely mottled above than in any other form of the species, 

 the lighter spots and mottlings decidedly more conspicuous; rufous 

 phase paler than that of 0. a. asio, with rufous predominating on under 

 parts." 



I have never seen this subspecies, and very little has been published 

 on it in its restricted habitat. Herbert W. Brandt says in his notes: 

 "The only place we met with this interesting little fellow was along the 

 railroads, where he spends the day in the telegraph poles, which have 

 been literally honeycombed with golden-fronted woodpecker holes. 

 As many as 18 holes of varying depths were seen in a single pole, 

 starting from the ground and going up to the top. All new poles today 

 are treated with a heavy coating of creosote, to which the woodpeckers 

 do not take kindly, which means that the screech owls will soon have 

 to return to their primitive abodes." 



Nesting. — Referring to his explorations on the Lower Rio Grande, 

 George B. Sennett (1878) writes: "On April 23d, while on the side of a 

 gully in the edge of a woods, I flushed a bird of this species from its 

 nest above my head. * * * The nest contained three perfectly 

 fresh eggs, was situated about ten feet from the ground in a dead stub 

 about nine inches in diameter, and so weak and rotten that I could 

 have pushed it over." 



13751—38 18 



