806 REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



have come, it is to be expected that these owls will visit it to a greater 

 or less extent. They irregularly range over it in greater or less num- 

 bers, sometimes in flocks of from seven to twenty-five in winter. They 

 take up their quarters in our meadows, and all winter long wage a re- 

 lentless war upon the mice, shrews and other four-footed pests. Their 

 coming is evidently regulated by the food supply, for always when 

 they come in force the meadows are overrun with mice. 



In the Whitewater Valley Dr. Raymond never recognized it. The 

 first specimen taken there was November 8, 1878. From that time to 

 1886 no more were seen. The winter of 1883 they were tolerably com- 

 mon in Rush County. Prof. W. P. Shannon obtained six specimens 

 from a flock there. In November and early December, 1886, they 

 came in immense numbers, in company with other Owls and several 

 Hawks, and ranged over Indiana and Ohio to their southern boun- 

 dary. In some places they are reported in flocks of ten to twenty-five. 

 Near Cincinnati Dr. Langdon notes that during February, 1887, a 

 young man who was crossing a partially inundated field counted these 

 birds as they arose before him, and at one time there were thirty in 

 the air. There was only one tree in the field, upon which the}^ all 

 alighted. (Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist,, Vol. XII, 1889, p. 59.) 



In Franklin County, Indiana, they, were very common throughout 

 the county. Every one was speaking about the Prairie Owls. In one 

 neighborhood in Decatur County there were three flocks, and another 

 two, with from ten to twenty-five owls each. It is estimated there 

 were hundreds of these birds in that county that winter (Shannon). 

 A great many were seen in January, 1887, in Fayette County (Rehme). 

 The same winter they were common in Knox County (Chansler), and 

 were reported from Vigo (Evermann). They remained in the spring 

 of 1887 well into April. The last one noted in Franklin County was 

 April 26. Wherever they were observed their great destruction of 

 mice was noted. In the winter of 1890 they were very common in 

 Clinton County (Evermann). In 1892 a large number were killed in 

 Knox County (Chansler). The winter of 1894-5 they ranged as far as 

 Putnam County, where a small flock was found (Earlle). The stom- 

 achs of ten of those taken the winter of 1886-7 showed that one was 

 empty and nice contained the remains of mice. A summary of 101 

 stomachs examined shows that 11 contained small birds; 77, mice; 7, 

 other mammals; 1, insects, and 14 were empty. (Dr. Fisher, Bull. No. 

 3, Div. of 0. and M., U. S. Dept. Agr.). 



Fully 75 per cent, of its food consists of mice, no less than six 

 having been found in one stomach. In addition to their mousing hab- 

 its, their habit of wandering and appearing in localities where mice 



