6l2 



COLLEGE ZOOLOGY 



during flight. Owls feed upon insects, mice, rats, and other 

 small mammals, birds, and fish. The indigestible parts of the 

 food are cast out of the mouth in the form of pellets. Most 

 species are beneficial to man. 



The great horned owl, Bubo virginianus (Fig. 501), is one 

 of the large North American species. It nests in old squirrels' 

 and hawks' nests, in hollow trees, or in crevices in rocky- 

 cliffs. Two or three large white eggs are laid. Its food con- 

 sists principally of birds 

 and mammals, especially 

 rabbits, and its harmful 

 and beneficial qualities are 

 about equal. 



The goatsuckers (Capri- 

 mulgid^e) are represented 

 in North America by thir- 

 teen species, of which the 

 whippoorwill and night- 

 hawk are the best known. 

 The whippoorwill, A ntr osto- 

 mies voci ferns, inhabits the 

 woods and thickets of east- 

 ern North America. It 

 is most active after sun- 

 down and early in the 

 morning, when it captures 

 its insect food' while on the wing. The two eggs are laid on 

 the leaves in the woods. The night-hawk, Chordeiles virginia- 

 nus, has a range similar to that of the whippoorwill. During 

 the day it perches on a limb, fence post, or on the ground, 

 but in the evening it mounts into the air after its insect prey. 

 The two eggs are laid on the bare ground, usually on a hillside 

 or in an open field; often they are deposited on the gravel roofs 

 of city buildings. 

 . The humming-birds (Trochilid^:), which are confined to the 



Fig. 501. — Great-horned owl, Bubo vir- 

 ginianus. (From Fisher, Yearbook U. S 

 Dep't Agric, 1894.) 



