1889.] Scott, Birds of the Gulf Coast of Florida. 249 
Megascops asio floridanus. FLorRIpDA ScrEECH OwL. — Common in 
suitable localities, and resident. Breeds in March and April. 
Bubo virginianus. GREAT HORNED Owl. — Not as common as the 
last two, but still a characteristic bird of the region under consideration. 
The time of breeding at Tarpon Springs and at Princeton, New Jersey, 
does not vary greatly. February finds the species with eggs at the latter 
place, though there is often snow on the ground, and the same month the 
eggs are laid about Tarpon Springs, though the climatic conditions are so 
very widely different. 
Speotyto cunicularia floridana. FLORIDA BuRROWING OwL. — At 
certain points in the interior in De Soto and adjacent Counties this species 
is resident and not uncommon. I have a series of thirteen birds before 
me that were taken in March, 1888, at Indian Prairie, De Soto County, 
Florida. They show little or no individual variation. 
Mr. Atkins observed all the Owls I have mentioned near Punta 
Rassa, but has no record of the occurrence of any kind of Owl on the 
island of Key West. 
Conurus carolinensis. CAROLINA PAROQUET.—With the settlement 
of the State this species has gradually disappeared till at the present time 
it must be regarded as a rare bird, though once so abundant and con- 
spicuous. In the winter of 1875 and 1876 the birds were very abundant at 
Panasoffkee Lake, and the same season I saw many flocks on the Ockla- 
waha River. About Tarpon Springs they were formerly very common, 
and were looked upon by the few settlers as a decided enemy to the various 
fruit cropscultivated. They were wantonly mischievious and cut hundreds 
of young green oranges, peaches, and the like, from the trees almost as 
soon as the fruit was formed. This was up to within the last seven years. 
They were killed in great numbers while committing such depredations, 
being fearless and coming in large flocks. For the past five years but oze 
small flock of some ten birds has been seen in this vicinity, and they 
were simply passing over and did not alight. No doubt the great num- 
ber of these birds that have been killed in order to protect the fruit crops isa 
large factor in accounting for their disappearance, but it can hardly be re- 
garded as the sole agent in the result that has been attained in most 
localities. The Paroquet seems to be one of the species that, like the 
Ivory-billed Woodpecker and others, disappears from settled regions, 
and it would seem to be a question of only a few years when Paro- 
quets will be as unknown in most parts of Florida as they are in 
some of the States where the early settlers found them an abundant 
species. 
At a point in Hernando County, in the vicinity of a place called Lin- 
den, the birds are still fairly common, and I have procured a series from 
that place this past winter (1888-1889). The ovaries of the female birds, 
taken about the middle of February, seemed to indicate that the 
breeding season would begin not later than the last of April. Mr. Atkins 
writes me, ‘‘I have no personal records of the occurrence of this species, 
but I have in my collection several specimens, and have seen others from 
