GREAT HORNED OWL 311 



skinning process being evidently accomplished in the Owl stomach. 

 These, along with the bones, were rolled into a compact mass and 

 afterwards regurgitated, usually in about twelve hours. When living 

 on an exclusive diet of raw meat from the butcher shop for a few days 

 the birds readily devoured feathers from a plucked chicken in con- 

 siderable quantities." 



That this owl can be a powerful factor for either good or evil, is 

 illustrated by the great quantities of food brought to the nest; I once 

 saw six cottontail rabbits in a nest at one time; Major Bendire (1892) 

 reports a nest that contained "a mouse, a yoimg muskrat, two eels, 

 four bullheads, a Woodcock, four Ruffed Grouse, one rabbit, and 

 eleven rats. The food taken out of the nest weighed almost 18 

 pounds." 



The economic status of the great horned owl depends almost entirely 

 on its surroundings and the kind of food available and its abundance. 

 I am not sure that, generally speaking, it is nearly so harmful as is 

 generally believed ; and, in some places, it is certainly more beneficial 

 than harmful. Where rabbits and other small mammals, which it 

 seems to prefer, are scarce, it is forced to live largely on birds and 

 domestic poultry; and probably some individuals develop the poultry 

 habit. Robert Little (1931) reports a case of this; he trapped one of 

 these owls in an extensive poultry yard, and says: "The trap was set 

 in open ground near the chicken pens and was baited with a live pallet 

 tethered to a stake. A few nights before, a small night-box in one of 

 the yards, faced with chicken-wire, had been entered, and 106 pullets 

 (nearly all the box contained) had been killed and left dead. The 

 birds were pierced through the back with what were considered to 

 be talon woimds. * * * A turkey hen also had recently been 

 killed and lesser depredations had been committed." 



Raids like this and lesser damage to poultry have given this owl a 

 bad name; but we must make allowance for the fact that such cases 

 are oftener brought to our attention than are the good deeds of the 

 owl in destroying harmful rodents. Furthermore, there have been 

 numerous cases recorded where great horned owls have lived and 

 raised a family in close proximity to farms and poultry yards without 

 molesting the poultry at all, and with no signs of poultry found in 

 their nests. 



As to the effect on game birds, Dr. Errington (1932a) writes: 



The Wingra situation, contrasted with that of the Hammersley Slough area, 

 illustrates the bearing of plentiful "buffer species" on the diet of a versatile 

 predator. Up to a hundred Mallard ducks frequented shore-line springs of the 

 refuge all winter, and the lone owl's territory was cohabited by three large covie6 

 of quail, yet he was known to get but two (and one of these kills was not unques- 

 tionable) quail and no ducks during a four month's sojourn. Why? Because 

 the refuge was over-run with rabbits, and Bubo had slight need of ranging very 



