KENNICOTT'S SCREECH OWL 267 



wood rat's nest placed on a limb of a Bay tree, some thirty feet from 

 the ground. A large mass of dead leaves from the tree had been put 

 together, and a hollow formed in the centre, lined with feathers of 

 fowls and birds." 



Eggs. — The California screech owl lays three to five eggs, which are 

 like those of the eastern screech owl but average slightly smaller. The 

 measurements of 45 eggs average 34.8 by 29.9 millimeters; the eggs 

 showing the four extremes measure 38 by 28, 36 by 32, and 32 by 28 

 millimeters. 



Plumages. — Dr. Louis B. Bishop, who has good series of all the 

 different California races of the screech owl, tells me that they all have 

 two color phases, a brown and a gray one, but no red phase as in the 

 eastern bird. 



Food. — The California screech owl is apparently rather more bene- 

 ficial than otherwise in its food habits. Where English sparrows are 

 numerous it seems to show a decided preference for them. In a nest in 

 a large oak on the University of California campus, Ernest D. Cla- 

 baugh (1926) found as many as six English sparrows in the nest at 

 one time, and others on three other occasions; he also found wing 

 feathers of birds, mostly sparrows of different species, feathers of a 

 California jay, a pocket gopher, meadow mice, a salamander, and a 

 large beetle. One of the young, which had been injured by a fall, was 

 apparently eaten by its nest mates. 



OTUS ASIO KENNICOTTI (Elliot) 

 KENNICOTT'S SCREECH OWL 



Plate 65 

 HABITS 



This large, dark-colored screech owl is found in the humid, north- 

 west-coast region, from Sitka, Alaska, to northwestern Washington. 

 Ridgway (1914) describes it as: "Large, like 0. a. macfarlanei, but 

 coloration much darker and browner, the general tone of upper parts 

 inclining, more or less strongly, to tawny brown, with lighter markings 

 brownish buff or pale cinnamon, the under parts more or less strongly 

 suffused with pale cinnamon, the legs (especially thighs) light tawny; 

 gray phase (which is relatively rare) similar to 0. a. bendirei and 0. a. 

 macfarlanei but very much darker (the general color of upper parts 

 approaching fuscous) and with lighter markings light brownish buffy 

 instead of v/hite, and the under parts much more heavily penciled and 

 spotted." 



J. Hooper Bowles (1917a) says of the haunts of this owl: "The most 

 favored localities are in the immediate vicinity of water, either fresh or 

 salt, where the country is to some extent open. Deciduous timber 



