JOURNAL 



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Vol. XVII. JUNE, 1909. No. 2. 



OWL PELLETS AND INSECTS. 



By William T. Davis, 

 New Brighton, N. Y. 



If the persevering naturalist desires to know what small mammals 

 inhabit the region in which he is interested, and much else about 

 other wild creatures, we would recommend that he inquire of the resi- 

 dent barred owl, if any such there be. That fluffy individual sits all 

 day on his perch, most likely in some secluded grove of cedars, and 

 though he may close his eyes, he keeps his ears wide open, and you 

 will probably not see him if you call. What you will find under his 

 roost will be masses of hair, bones and the remains of various small 

 animals of which he has eaten, and then thrown up as pellets of undi- 

 gested material. He not only catches birds, including other owls, 

 but also snakes, fish, frogs and insects ; but it is his gastronomic en- 

 tomology of which we will here make record. 



On March 31, 1907, I was fortunate in finding under the roost of 

 one of these owls on Staten Island, a large pellet three inches long 

 by one inch in diameter. It consisted largely of the bones of frogs, a 

 goodly number of feathers from a small bird, and very plainly the 

 remains of several water beetles. Upon carefully taking the pellet 

 apart, it was discovered that the owl had captured four female Dytiscus 

 fasciventris , as shown by the grooved elytra, and also what appeared to 

 be a male of the same species. There was in addition the remains of 

 two Hydrocharis ohtusatus. 



In some pellets which Mr. Waldron De W.Miller, of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, found under the roost of a barred owl 

 near Plainfield, N. J., we discovered the remains of four Dytiscus 



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