208 Lacey, Birds of Kerrville, Texas. [April 



Formerly they were in larger flocks than we see now. In the spring they 

 come from April 3 to 27; in autumn from September 15 to October 12. 



64. Falco columbarius. Pigeon Hawk.— Fairly common in winter 

 and are rather given to stealing chickens. 



65. Falco sparverius. Sparrow Hawk. — Very common in winter, 

 generally arriving in August. 1 have no record of this bird breeding in 

 the county but obtained a female on July 3, 1905, that had evidently been 

 recently brooding on eggs. Saw one on July 5, 1908. 



66. Polyborus cheriway. Audubon's Caracara. — A rather rare 

 visitor along the Guadaloupe valley. 



67. Pandion haliaetus carolinensis. Osprey. — One or two of 

 these birds are seen every summer along the Guadaloupe, but I have no 

 record of a nest. Have seen them as early as April 24 and as late as Novem- 

 ber 3. 



68. Aluco pratincola. Barn Owl. — Not common. A pair bred 

 many years ago in an old rock building at Kerrville, and I have seen the 

 species once or twice along some of the bluffs. 



69. Asio wilsonianus. Long-eared Owl. — I shot one of a pair of 

 these birds on April 4, 1898; this is the only record I have. 



70. Strix varia subsp.? Barred Owl. — Oftener heard than seen; 

 probably fairly common for an owl and resident. 



71. Otus asio aikeni. Aiken's Screech Owl.- — Very common. 

 Nests as a rule early in April, and on warm days may be heard at midday 

 in February and March. A pair of these birds tried to breed in a small 

 heating stove in the house in 1896 and again in 1897, coming down the 

 stovepipe which had a double elbow and laying in the stove: they made 

 too much noise scratching up and down the stovepipe and so had to be 

 discouraged. They often lay their eggs in houses put up for the martins 

 or for pigeons and I think destroy the young birds. In May, 1908, a pair 

 nested in the martin box at the ranch. Finding a dead martin under the 

 box, I got a shotgun and sent a friend up the pole to investigate: an owl 

 flew out and was promptly shot and then my friend found three young 

 owls in the box, and brought them down, and put them under a live-oak 

 tree in the yard. The remaining parent fed the young for a night or two 

 on the ground, bringing them, among other things, two or three sphinx 

 moths and a crawfish, and then persuaded them to climb into the tree. 

 The next evening my friend was smoking after supper and the owl knocked 

 his pipe out of his mouth. The owl next attacked the lady of the house as 

 she was bringing in the milk, and as a final exploit struck me full in the 

 face as I was standing near the tree, using force enough to draw blood. 

 The next morning the whole owl family was put to death. 



72. Bubo virginianus pallescens. Western Horned Owl. — For 

 so large an owl, a common resident, nesting early in the spring in a cave in 

 a bluff, a deserted Red-tailed Hawk's nest, or on one occasion on the flat- 

 tened top of a squirrel's nest. Small rabbits seem to be their principal 

 food, but occasionally they harry the hen roosts and I have known them to 

 kill young wild turkeys, even when half grown. 



