OF NEW ENGLAND. 335 
and swamps, often ensconced in the hole of a tree, though they 
sometimes perch on a bough. They may be closely approached 
on a bright day, and do not fly far if disturbed. Immediately 
after sunset, however, they become full of animation and cour- 
age, and even venture into open lands. One would suppose it 
difficult for them to find enough food, but they undoubtedly 
surprise small birds at roost, easily detect the slightest move- 
ment of any small quadruped in the grass, and readily pick up 
such insects as sing through the night, or indeed others. They 
probabiy do not often feed on reptiles. 
(d). Their extraordinary love-notes are doubly deceptive, 
from their strong resemblance to the noise of a saw-mill, and 
from the ventriloquism with which they are uttered. I have, 
however, vainly tried to produce similar sounds through vari- 
ous combinations of files and saws. The Saw-whet Owls, as 
they are called on account of these notes, have also a single 
low cry. 
V. SCOPS 
(A) asio. Screech Oul. Mottled Owl. Red Oul. 
(A common summer-resident, but here rare, or absent, in 
winter. ) 
(a). Averaging nine inches in length. Gray, or brownish- 
red, paler below; variously marked, chiefly with black. 
(b). The eggs are laid in the hollow of a tree, an apple-tree 
being frequently selected, in which are often placed a few sim- 
ple materials, such as leaves or dry grass. The eggs, of which 
four are here laid about the middle of April, average 1°35 x 
1:20 of an inch, thongh occasionally specimens measure 1°50 
X 1:30 of an inch. They are white, and nearly spherical. 
(c). ‘The Screech Owls are probably the most well-known of 
the American Owls, owing to their general abundance in the 
United States, their frequent occurrence near the haunts of 
man, and their peculiar tremulous notes. During the day, they 
rest in the hollow of a tree, a thick evergreen, or even the hay- 
loft of a barn, but from these retreats they are sometimes 
driven by impertinent Jays and other tormentors. They seem 
