518 Eifrig, Birds of the Chicago Area. [q£ 



more survey their ancient realm. Stoddard saw one at Millers, October 15, 

 1916; ten days later, on the 25th, one passed over our campus here in River 

 Forest, and June 17, 1917, Mr. W. D. Richardson saw three at Mineral 

 Springs, Porter County, Indiana, in the dune country. 



Falco sparverius sparverius. Sparrow Hawk. — This handsome 

 little falcon is by no means common here, either as migrant or summer 

 resident. In the territory that 1 visit 1 know of only three or four breeding 

 pairs, one in some big elms on the banks of the Desplaines River, and two 

 pair at Schaumburg, Cook County, where the parent pair nests year after 

 year in a small wooden pinnacle or turret over a buttress in the Lutheran 

 church, and the other in a chimney near by. March 25, 1911, I saw one 

 dart around among the flocks of Calcarius lapponicus, then in the fields at 

 Addison, causing a great panic among them, but as long as ] watched he 

 did not catch any. 



Aluco pratincola. Barn Owl. — Very rare here. To the one re- 

 corded by Mr. Stoddard (Auk, Vol. XXXIII, p. 32S), I can add another. 

 It was a male bird, shot at Orland, September 29, 1917, and sent to me. 



Asio wilsonianus. Long-eared Owl. — This seems to be almost as 

 rare as the preceding species. In the fall of 1916 1 had an interesting 

 experience with a pair, or at least two of them. November 29, while out 

 with several boys in " Northwood," a large tract of park-like real estate,, 

 we found one in a Norway spruce. Judging from the number of pellets 

 below, it or they, as it turned out, must have been there for some time. It 

 was there again, on the same limb, on December 3. On the 17th there 

 were two, also on the 20th, one always on the same limb. 1 asked every 

 visitor to my house, whether ornithologically inclined or not, whether 

 he or she would like to interview a pair of Owls, and, usually getting an 

 affirmative answer, would take them to that spruce, it being near my home, 

 and the birds were always there, allowing close inspection. Once 1 showed 

 them to some boys, and next time I came there they were gone. 1 gathered 

 what pellets remained after the snow was gone, sent them to the Bureau 

 of Biological Survey at Washington, whence I learned that they contained 

 the remains of thirty meadow mice, one white-footed mouse, ' and two 

 shrews. 



Strix varia varia. Barred Owl. — This seems to be rarer than 

 the preceding species. In nine years only one has come to my notice. 

 This was shot in the village of River Forest, August 6, 1915, by a dairy- 

 man, who objected to it coming to his poultry yard for several days in 

 succession, where it was critically eyeing his chickens. 



Cryptoglaux a. acadica. Saw-whet Owl. — Another rare species. 

 Saw one only in nine years, and the manner of seeing it was somewhat 

 unusual. While with some boys in what I call " Waller's Park," now 

 called " Northwoods," near my home, an Italian workman came along 

 who wanted to throw a bird, whose head he had wrung off, into a fire. I 

 asked him for it, and it turned out to be this Owl. He said he had caught 

 it with his hands in a juniper bush near his house, because it disturbed his 



