30 



GAME, AQUATIC, AND KAPACIOUS BIRDS. 



extensively on insects than any of the other owls. It is also, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Fisher 



a diligent mouser, and feeds more or less on crawfish, frogs, toads, scorpions, lizards, 

 and fish. * * * Among insects, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, and cutworms 



are most often eaten. 

 As many as 50 grasshop- 

 pers have been found 

 in one stomach, 18 May 

 beetles in another, and 

 13 cutworms in another. 

 During the warmer 

 parts of the year it is ex- 

 ceptional to find a stom- 

 ach not well filled with 

 insect remains. Meadow 

 mice, white-footed 

 mice, and house mice 

 are the mammals most 

 often taken, while chip- 

 munks, wood rats, fly- 

 ing squirrels, and moles 

 are less frequently 

 found. The screech 

 owl is fond of fish and 

 catches many, espe- 

 cially in winter, when 

 he watches near the 

 breathing holes in the 

 ice, and seizes the luck- 

 less fish which comes 

 to the surface. Most of 

 the birds destroyed by 

 this owl are killed 

 either in severe winter 

 weather or during the 

 breeding season, when 

 it has hard work to feed 

 its young. As nearly 

 three - fourths of the 

 owl's food consists of 

 injurious mammals and 

 insects, and only about 

 one-seventh of birds (a 

 large proportion of 

 FIG. 14. Screech owl. vhich are destructive 



English sparrows), there is no question that this little owl should be carefully 



w. L. M. 



i Circ. 61, Biological Survey, pp. 12-13, 1907. 



497 



