THE EOCKY MOUNTAIN SCREECH OWL. 365 



young about a week old and an addled egg. This egg was not found until 

 his return to the nest a second time a few hours afterward, when one of the 

 parents was caught and a careful examination of the nest made. This, if it 

 can be called a nest, was composed of bits of rotten wood, a few feathers of 

 small birds, and a good many fish scales. The tree was standing within 

 100 yards of the river. Fish of various species seem to form no incon- 

 siderable portion of the diet of other small Owls as well, as I have found 

 on more than one occasion good sized brook trout (Salmo purpuratus) in 

 the burrows used by Kennicott's Screech Owl (Megascops asio kennicottit) in 

 Washington Territory. 1 Just how they manage to catch an active fish like 

 a brook trout, if they take them alive, which, I must confess, is very ques- 

 tionable, would be interesting to know. 2 



"Mr. Anthony thinks that the Rocky Mountain Screech Owl breeds also in 

 old abandoned nests of the Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica hudsonica'), and he 

 writes me that he has often found them roosting in tliem both in winter and 

 spring, and has found the American Long-eared Owl (Asio wilsonianus) breed- 

 ing in such nests. 



"Mr. Denis Gale, of Gold Hill, Colorado, has taken several nests of this 

 bird during the last three years, and finds them not at all uncommon in that 

 vicinity. A set of four eggs now before me was found by him on April 20, 

 1886, on Boulder Creek, near Boulder City, Colorado. He writes me regard- 

 ing these eggs as follows: 'Judging from the different stages of advancement 

 in the embryos, I am inclined to think they were laid at intervals of from 

 forty-eight to seventy-two hours, and that the eggs were covered continu- 

 ously from the time the first one was laid. The burrow used for a nesting 

 site by this pair of birds was an old Flicker's hole, in a cottonwood tree, 

 about 20 feet from the ground. There was nothing between the eggs and 

 the bare wood bottom on which they lay that bore the semblance of a nest, 

 excepting a little wood dust and a few wing and tail feathers of the Arctic 

 Bluebird and several species of Sparrows. These feathers were without doubt 

 the remnants of birds fed to the sitting female by her mate, the soiled and 

 stained eggs showing plainly their coming in contact with the mangled food 

 devoured over them.' The female covered her eggs with great persistency 

 and was only removed off them by force, snapping her bill and using her 

 sharp claws with great energy when handled. Mr. Gale tells me that besides 

 small birds, several species of the smaller rodents, frogs, and crawfish also 

 form part of their bill of fare. 



"Mr. Gale writes further as follows: 'Rarely does this species follow the 

 creeks far into the foothills; I have not observed them at 6,000 feet altitude. 

 Like others of their, genus they seem to delight in a sheltered, shady loca- 

 tion, close to a pond or creek where they select a domicile, either in a 



1 Recently described as Megascope asio macfarlanei, BRKWSTER. 



'Since this article has been written, I notice that this fishing propensity is not confined to the two races 

 mentioned therein, but is common to the eastern form as well. (See M. A. Frazar, in Ball. Nutt. Ornith. 

 Club, Vol. II, No. 3, July, 1877, p. 80, and Willard E. Treat, iu Auk, Vol. VI, April, 1889, p. 189.) 



