VOl 'l9ii yI11 ] Sherman, Nest Life of the Screech Owl. 167 



the next season. On this basis of reckoning sixty-four birds fell 

 victims to these night terrors; as but one of the eight birds seen 

 was an English Sparrow little credit belongs to the owls on that 

 score; four were Song Sparrows and three Juncos. After the 

 Juncos had passed northward there were numerous reddish feathers 

 in the nest indicating that Swamp Sparrows often appeared on the 

 bill of fare. 



The very large proportion of Song Sparrows and Juncos slain 

 invites investigation. During some part of the nest period fully 

 thirty species of small birds were present, of which Goldfinches, 

 Vesper, Savannah, White-throated, Tree, Chipping, Field and 

 Swamp Sparrows were as numerous at times as the Song Sparrows, 

 or more plentiful, for in time all Song Sparrows disappeared. In 

 three places on our grounds this species had been accustomed to 

 nest, but as the days went by one voice after another was missed 

 from the bird chorus. The fact that Juncos and Song Sparrows 

 more frequently than their numerous congeners fell victims to 

 these rapacious birds, suggests the thought that probably they 

 flush at night more readily. Usually the head, wings and tail of a 

 bird were torn off before it was dropped into the nest, only once 

 was a whole one brought in. At times the food was marked; from 

 this it was made certain that the body of a Song Sparrow lay un- 

 touched for two days, thereby showing that a mouse diet was pre- 

 ferred. 



Out of forty pieces of game eight were birds or twenty per cent of 

 the whole. Dr. Fisher's investigation of the food habits of this 

 species shows that of 212 Screech Owls whose stomachs contained 

 food 38 of them had eaten birds or eighteen per cent of the whole. 

 This indicates that our owls were but two per cent worse than the 

 species in general, yet their ravages were so great that it was de- 

 cided if we desired a little bird paradise where all good birds were 

 welcome through the summer time there Screech Owls could not be 

 encouraged to remain, therefore the captive owlets were sent to a 

 neighboring village, a pair of them to two invalid little boys in a 

 hospital, the others to a friend in the same place. Soon all of them 

 gained their freedom and with it the chance to prey upon all the 

 little birds about them. 



