GAME, AQUATIC, AND RAPACIOUS BIRDS. 29 



swallowlike flight, its habit of hovering over the luckless grasshopper 

 or meadow mouse it hopes to make a meal of, and its repeated shrill 

 wavering cry. "It is the only one of the true falcons," as has been 

 pointed out by Dr. Fisher, "which can be placed in the mainly 

 beneficial class." He says further: 



At times it attacks small birds and young chickens, but these irregularities are 

 so infrequent that they are more than outweighed by its good services in destroying 

 insects and mice. Grasshoppers, crickets, and other insects form its principal food 

 during the warm months, while mice predominate during the rest of the year. Ter- 

 restrial caterpillars, beetles, and spiders also are eaten to a considerable extent. As 

 might be expected, a large proportion of the birds captured are taken during the 

 nesting season, the hawks then having less time to secure their favorite food. It is 

 at this time also that they commit depredations in poultry yards. During late fall 

 and winter, meadow mice and house mice form a large part of their food, the former 

 being taken in fields and meadows and the latter around corn stacks and about barns 

 and outbuildings. Because of its confidence and lack of fear the sparrow hawk is 

 one of the species which suffers most from unjust bounty laws. Any vandal who can 

 carry a gun is able to slaughter this little hawk. Mr. W. B. Hall, of Wakeman, Ohio, 

 writes us that while the hawk law was in force in Ohio he was township clerk in his 

 native village and issued 86 certificates, 46 being for sparrow hawks. He examined 

 the stomachs and found 45 of them to contain the remains of grasshoppers and beetles, 

 while the remaining one contained the fur and bones of a meadow mouse. 1 



W. L. M. 



LONG-EARED OWL. 



(Asio wilsonianus.) 



The long-eared owl occurs throughout the United States. It is 

 nocturnal in its habits and is one of our most beneficial species. 

 Mice, principally meadow mice, are its staple food. One hundred and 

 fifty pellets collected by Dr. Fisher under the roost of a bird of this 

 species at Munson Hill, Va., contained remains of 95 meadow mice, 

 19 pine mice, 15 house mice, 5 white-footed mice, 3 Cooper's mice, 26 

 shrews, and 13 birds, of which 11 were sparrows, 1 a bluebird, and the 

 other a warbler. Eighty-six out of 92 stomachs examined also con- 

 tained mice. The bird is common all over the United States and 

 does a great deal of good. It is not wary, hence is one of the great- 

 est sufferers where bounties are paid for the destruction of birds of 

 prey. w. L. M. 



SCREECH OWL. 



(Otus asio.) 



The little screech owl (fig. 14), in the South aptly called "shivering 

 owl," in allusion to its quavering whistle, or perhaps to the effect 

 of that call upon the listener, ranges from coast to coast and far 

 beyond both the northern and southern boundaries of the United 

 States. With the exception of the burrowing owl it feeds more 



i Circ. 61, Biological Survey, p. 9, 1907. 

 497 



