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OWLS. 109 
as the Snowy Owl and Hawk Owl, northern birds that 
visit us rarely in winter. 
Because of their nocturnal habits Owls are even more 
deserving of protection than the beneficial Hawks, for 
they feed at a time when mice are abroad, and their 
food consists largely of these destructive little rodents. 
They capture their prey, like the Hawks, by striking it 
with their powerful talons, when, if small enough, it is 
swallowed entire. The indigestible portions, hair, bones, 
and feathers, are formed into pellets in the stomach and 
ejected at the mouth. These may always be found in 
numbers beneath an Owl’s roosting place, and form as 
sure an indication of the Owl’s presence as they do of 
the nature of his food. Thus, as before mentioned, two 
hundred pellets of the Barn Owl, taken from the home of 
a pair of these birds in the tower of the Smithsonian In- 
stitation, were found by Dr. A. K. Fisher to contain the 
skulls of 454 small maramals. 
Owls are generally inhabitants of woods, but our 
Short-eared Owl is an exception to this rule, and lives 
Short-eared Owl, i large, grassy marshes. It passes the 
Asio accipitrinus, day on the ground, but at dusk may be 
Plate XIX. geen flying low over the marsh in search 
of the meadow mice which form a large part of its food. 
Dr. Fisher found, on examination of 101 stomachs of this 
Owl, that no less than 77 contained the remains of mice, 
convincing proof of its usefulness. Unlike any of our . 
other Owls, the Short-eared makes its nest on the ground, 
laying from four to seven eggs. It is somewhat irregular 
in its distribution, but has been found nesting, locally, 
from Virginia northward. It winters from New Jersey 
southward, and is sometimes associated in companies at 
this season. 
The Long-eared Owl is about the size of the Short- 
eared Owl, but its “ear-tufts” are an inch or more in 
