INJURIOUS INSECTS OF 1904. 



141 



fourteen stomachs with the following results: Seven had only field 

 mice in their stomachs; three, frogs; two, small birds (warblers); 

 one, a few feathers, apparently of a sparrow, and fragments of insects ; 

 one a large number of grasshoppers, with a small quantity of hair, 

 evidently of a young rabbit. 



SCREECH OWL. 



Varies greatly in color from 

 reddish or rufous to gray. In 

 rufous specimens rufous above 

 generally showing fine black 

 lines. Below, whitish with feath- 

 ers barred with reddish or ru- 

 fous. Or, in grayish specimens, 

 above brownish gray with faint 

 black markings mingling with 

 brown. Length about ten inch- 

 es. This is a quite familiar bird 

 about our orchards and barn- 

 yards, and, as its food habits 

 show, its presence should be en- 

 couraged. Of two hundred and 

 fifty-five stomachs examined un- 

 der the direction of the United 

 States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, one contained p o u It r y, 

 thirty-eight contained other 

 birds ; ninety-one contained 

 mice ; eleven contained other 

 mammals ; one hundred con- 

 tained insects ; two contained lizards ; four contained batrachians ; 

 one contained fish ; five contained spiders ; nine contained crawfish ; 

 seven contained miscellaneous matter; two contained scorpions; 

 two contained earthworms; and forty-three were empty. 



From consideration of the food habits of the two above birds, 

 representatives of the order of Hawks and Owls, it would seem that 

 we make a mistake in wholly condemning this much maligned group, 

 for among the hawks and owls we certainly find some in whom the 

 good qualities seem to outweigh the bad. 



Fig. 135.— Screech Owls. After Plate 23, Bul- 

 letin No. 3, Division of Ornithology and 

 Mammalogy U. S. Dep. of Agriculture. 



