64 Gbe TOarbler 



rule, he does not sing- often his song when once started is usually of consid- 

 erable duration. I have listened to one fifteen or twenty minutes at a time 

 and within full view. On two or three occasions when I have been listening 

 the bird left his perch and took up a position much nearer to where I stood 

 and poured out his notes with such fervor that I could but believe that 

 he appreciated the fact that he had an attentive listener. The nest is some- 

 times placed upon the ground under some sheltering foliage and sometimes 

 in a low, dense bush. In the latter position it is a rather bulky affair, built 

 chiefly of sticks and lined with dry rootlets. The eggs vary widely in col- 

 orings and markings and a full set ranges from three to six, five being the 

 usual number. One season, however, a few years ago all the nests of the 

 Brown Thrasher I found on Long Island, and they were many, contained 

 just three eggs — no more, and no less. The same year all the nests of the 

 Field Sparrow (Spisella pusilla ) I found contained only three eggs or three 

 young birds. 



The Screech Owl 



{Megascopi asid) 



1 BELIEVE the Screech Owl is the only one of the rapiores that still 

 breeds within the city limits of New York, and in a few years more this 

 bird will have retreated before the advances of suburban homes, street rail- 

 ways, and electric lights to more secluded quarters, never to return. It is 

 yet possible to find one or two pairs each season nesting in some old orchard 

 or in the woods covering the hills, or, as locally known, " rocky hills," back 

 of Creedmoor, in the Borough of Queens. The nesting site of the Screech 

 Owl is some cavity in a decayed tree, an old knot-hole, or some former home 

 of a Flicker. The eggs, five to eight in number, are pure white and nearly 

 round in shape. The bird's food consists of mice, small reptiles and insects. 

 It is a useful bird and should be protected. I sometimes see one or more 

 Screech Owls during August evenings on the lawn about my house or 

 perched upon trees or telegraph wires. These are evidently young birds 

 from a nearby brood. 



(To be Continued) 



