472 THE KENNICOTT SCREECH OWL. 
white. Between these two phases there exists every gradation (the former, 
however, is much more common). They occur quite independently of age, sex, 
or season, both phases being sometimes represented in the same brood. Young: 
Heavily barred with dusky gray or dark brown and buffy white; no longitudinal 
markings. Length about 11,00 (279.4); wing about 7.00 (177.8); tail 4.00 
(101.6). 
Recognition Marks.—Robin size but appearing larger; feather-tufts with 
size distinctive in range; darker than O. a. macfarlanei. 
Nesting.—Nest; an unlined cavity of tree or stump, often an old woodpecker 
hole. Eggs: 2-4, white, faintly glossed. Av. size, 1.62 x 1.33 (41.2 x 33.8). 
Season: c. April 15; one brood. 
General Range.—Northwest coast region from Oregon to Sitka. 
Range in Washington.—Common resident west of the Cascades. 
Authorities.—Scops asio, Linn. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, p. 
(T). C&S. Rh. Kb. Ra. Kk. B. E. 
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. B. E. 
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TO ONE whose early studies have been conducted in the forests and 
deciduous groves of the East it is a disappointment to learn that the birds of 
Washington will not respond to the Screech Owl ery. Why, go out in any 
grove from Iowa to Massachusetts, at any time of year, at any hour of day- 
light, save the siesta interval from 10 a. m. to 2 p. m., secrete yourself in a 
thicket and simulate the mournful, rolling call of the little Screech Owl, and 
you will at once be conscious of an apprehensive hush in the neighboring trees 
and bushes. Then follows a murmur of inquiry; Chickadees, Titmice, Nut- 
hatches, Warblers, Vireos, and Jays set out to discover the whereabouts of 
this arch-enemy who has been indiscreet enough to proclaim his presence dur- 
ing the hours of his helplessness. If a veritable Owl is found, as not infre- 
quently happens, every bird’s bill is against him, and there is none so poor to 
do him reverence—by daylight. This is not alone because he appears stupid 
and sleepy, or because he regards his tormentors with the fixed gravity of a 
round-eyed gaze, varied only by “that forlorn, almost despairing wink” pecu- 
liar to it, but because they have an ancient and well-grounded grudge against 
this bird of silent wing and cruel claw. All but the Blue Jay (Cyanocitta 
cristata)—he is a villain himself, and he leads the persecution of Owls from a 
sheer love of mischief. Whenever a Blue Jay’s voice is lifted high, and there 
is an undercurrent of bird-babble beneath it, it is time for the bird-man to 
slip rapidly forward from tree to tree and investigate. 
But there is none of that here. You whistle until you are dry, and the 
Chickadees, if they regard the matter at all, infer that you are from Steila- 
