30 BEACH GRASS 



like stratifications, with the fur, feathers, and 

 bones of their victims. All of these I collected 

 with care after the birds had left the nest, and 

 sent them to the Biological Survey in Washing- 

 ton for identification. The result was most sur- 

 prising and is interesting to record here. This 

 family of owls had been fed on two red-winged 

 blackbirds, one each of the following kinds of 

 sparrows — the sharp-tailed, Savannah, vesper 

 and chipping — on two song sparrows, one che- 

 wink, one pine warbler, one Maryland yellow- 

 throat and two other unidentified warblers, two 

 thrushes, a brown thrasher and four other small 

 birds not identified; also on three short-tailed 

 shrews, one white-footed mouse, eleven jumping 

 mice, and eleven meadow mice. In other words, 

 the refuse from the owl table showed that over 

 thirteen different kinds of birds had been eaten 

 and twenty-three individuals; also four species 

 of mammals and twenty-five individuals. 



Fisher in his classic on the "Hawks and Owls 

 of the United States" says: *'The Long-eared 

 Owl is one of our most beneficial species, destroy- 

 ing vast numbers of injurious rodents and seldom 



