224 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



such as the cecropia, polypheme, promethean, and lunar 

 moths, in comparison to the number of cocoons that are 

 to be found during the winter clinging to the bushes, is 

 that no sooner are the matured insects on the wing than 

 this owl, the little red owl, and the bats, attack them, 

 have twice found the remnants of many wings of these 

 four moths in the hollows of trees where the saw-whets, 

 for the time, were living. This fact, further, was once 

 very forcibly brought to my attention by an annoying 

 incident. For several summers I have been anxious to 

 secure a good example of the rare walnut-moth (Cerato- 

 campa regalia), and during a pleasant August evening last 

 summer was delighted to see one fluttering against the 

 window, struggling to enter the room, where a bright 

 light was burning. I hurried out of doors to capture my 

 prize, but was too late. A saw-whet owl that had been 

 roosting in a pine-tree near by had also seen the moth, 

 and, pouncing down, seized it while I was reaching up- 

 ward for the same purpose. 



Prior to 1877 I had not found any specimens of this 

 owl in the neighborhood. On January 16th of that year, 

 after two weeks of quite uniform cold and snowy weather, 

 it proved warm, rainy, and a dense fog prevailed. A few 

 birds of several kinds twittering in the cedars drew me 

 out of doors, and I found, to my surprise, that the snow- 

 birds, sparrows, titmice, and kinglets had discovered one 

 of these little owls in a cedar-tree, and were discussing its 

 presence with many emphatic chirps and twitters. 



It is always a safe conclusion that something unusual 

 has occurred, when different birds congregate about one 

 spot, and are unusually noisy and demonstrative. Re- 

 membering this, led me to discovering the saw-whet the 

 first living specimen I had ever seen. 



Since then these owls have been found here every 



