BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



149 



rat History of Alaska" says : " Among the natives of the Yukon district 

 the liver of this bird is used as a love-philter. The liver is dried and 

 reduced to a powder, and placed, unknown to the person to whom the 

 philter is to be administered, in some food. On eating the food the de- 

 sired affection is supposed to make itself evident. I knew of an incident 

 where a native endeavored, by this means, to regain the affection of his 

 wife. The mother-in-law had more potency than dried owl-liver, and as 

 she controlled her daughter the philter was as naught. It is adminis- 

 tered indifferently, by man or woman, and is frequently used by the 

 Eskimo." 



From the following list it will be observed that this owl very seldom 

 is found breeding in this state : 



Nuttall says : "Its food is almost exclusively mice, for which it watches, 

 seated on a stump, with all the vigilance of a cat, listening attentively 

 to the low squeak of its prey, to which it is so much alive as to be some- 

 times brought in sight by imitating the sound." In the disgorged pel- 

 lets of this species examined by Audubon, he found the remains of bones 

 of small quadrupeds, mixed with hair, and remains of various beetles. 



The food of eleven of these owls examined by me will be found in the 

 following table : 



' I have found the Swamp or Short-eared Owl at all times of the year in the Conewago Valley ; this 

 leads me to believe that it breeds here, sometimes, or at least on the Blue mountains, in the vicinity of 

 Colebrook and Mt. Gretna. "Treichler. 



