245 



be does, liiineipally on insects such as {grasshoppers 

 and beetles in the summer, and in winter, when insect 

 food is scarce, on mice of different kinds, and small 

 wild birds, particularly sparrows. 



KILLS THE FEATHERED PRIZE-FIGHTERS. 



The English Sparrow has, perhaps, no more relent- 

 less a foe among the feathered tribe than is the much 

 abused and persecuted Screech Owl. At night, when 

 the sparrows are sleeping abo-ut buildings, the owl 

 noiselessly wings his way to their retreats and cap- 

 tures them with apparently but little effort. Last win- 

 ter I knew a pair of Screech Owls to regularly visit, 

 every night, for about a week, an ivy covered build- 

 ing where a large colony of sparrows had taken up 

 their abode. The owls appeared perfectly satisfied 

 with their work, and to- all outward appearances 

 thrived on a diet of sparrows. The sparrows, on the 

 other hand, which escaped the owls' sharp claws, after 

 nearly ten days or nights experience, evidently came to 

 the conclusion that it would be more conducive to their 

 nocturnal slumbers and safety to hunt another roost- 

 ing place, and they did so. 



For a period of nearly a month the sparrows were 

 not observed to return to the ivy roost. One evening 

 a boy threw' a stone at one of the o-wls and killed it. 

 Its mate disappeared about the same time, and in a 

 short time, probably a week, after the owls had gone, 

 the sparrows returned to their old roosting place in the 

 ivy. 



The farmer or fruit grower who will allow Screech 

 Owls to be destroyed, is certainly standing in his own 

 light, and the sooner he familiarizes himself with the 

 true economic relations of these birds, liie bctler it will 

 lie for his inteicsts. 



