ROCKY MOUNTAIN SCREECH OWL 271 



rado, record of W. G. Smith. * * * From this it will be Been that maxwells' 

 is strictly a foothills form, inhabiting a long, narrow strip of country running in a 

 general north and south direction and closely adhering to the base of the eastern 

 foothills of the Rocky Mountains. * * * 



The Rocky Mountain Screech Owl * * * is a resident thruout the year 

 all along the eastern base of the foothills in the north central part of Colorado, but 

 its hunting and breeding grounds are closely restricted to the well wooded creek 

 bottoms, the only locations in this 6parsely timbered region which afford him 

 proper food, nesting sites and means of concealment. 



As to whether this bird performs a slight north and south movement at migra- 

 tion periods, there seems to be a difference of opinion. Some observers declare 

 that Megascops leaves its summer home around Denver, and moves south as far 

 at least as Colorado Springs (75 miles), and its breeding grounds are occupied as a 

 winter home by migrants from farther north. Others claim that it spends the 

 entire year in the same haunts, laying its eggs in one of the many cavities occupied 

 during the winter. Whichever view of the matter is correct, it is a fact that thru- 

 out the year the "owl stumps" so dear to the memory of every bird student, are 

 occupied by these birds, and it is seldom indeed that a good sized grove of aged 

 timber, with a few dead stumps scattered thru it, will not contain a pair of Screech 

 Owls. 



Nesting. — The same observer says on this subject: 



As has been stated before the nesting site is invariably along the well wooded 

 water-courses and in more or less dense groves of cottonwoods and occasionally 

 willow or box-elder. A peculiar characteristic of this bird is its predeliction for 

 sluggish or stagnant water, and one of the prerequisites of a model nesting site is a 

 small slough or pool within a short distance of the nest hole. I am at a loss to 

 know why this is so, unless it is that frogs and crawfish form no inconsiderable 

 portion of the bird's food, and close proximity to a source of food supply may be a 

 solution of the problem. 



The very great majority of nests are found in cottonwood trees. This is prob- 

 ably due to the fact that this tree greatly predominates along all the foothill 

 streams, and it is the variety most commonly used by the Red-shafted Flicker, 

 the deserted excavations of which the Screech Owl nearly always occupies. How- 

 ever, natural cavities are occasionally resorted to; but owing to the nature of the 

 trees these are found mostly in box-elder or black willows, the cottonwood rarely 

 rotting out in this manner. 



Major Bendire (1892) says that the first nest of this subspecies was 

 discovered by A. W. Anthony on May 4, 1883, in the trunk of a large 

 cottonwood ; the nest contained three young about a week old and an 

 addled egg; it was in a knothole within 4 feet of a new nest being 

 excavated by a red-shafted nicker, but on the opposite side of the 

 trunk. He says, also, that Mr. Anthony thinks that this screech owl 

 breeds also in the abandoned nests of the black-billed magpie, as he 

 has often found them roosting in them both in winter and spring. 

 Both Denis Gale and William G. Smith told him that they had found 

 them nesting in such places. 



Eggs—Mr. Rockwell (1907) says: 



The great majority of full clutches contain four eggs, tho occasionally three or 

 five are deposited. In the twenty-five sets it has been my good fortune to examine 

 in the nests, the following sets were found: One of 2, five of 3, fifteen of 4, two 



