1889.) Benpire, Nest and Eggs of the Screech Owl. 299 
seem to form no inconsiderable portion of the diet of other small 
Owls as well, as I have personally found on more than one occasion 
good-sized brook trout (Salmo furpuratus) in the burrows 
used by the Kennicott’s Screech Owl (Megascops asto kenicottit) 
in Washington Territory. Just how they manage to catch an 
active fish like a brook trout if they take them alive, which in my 
opinion I must confess is very questionable, would be interesting 
to know.* Mr. Anthony thinks that the Rocky Mountain 
Screech Owl breeds also in old abandoned nests of the Black- 
billed Magpie (Péca pica hudsonica), and he writes me that he 
has often found them roosting in them both in winter and spring, 
and has found the American Long-eared Owl (Aszo w7lsontanus) 
breeding in such nests. 
Mr. Denis Gale of Gold Hill, Colorado, has taken several 
nests of this bird during the last three years, and finds them not 
at all uncommon in his vicinity. A set of four eggs, now before 
me, was found by him on April 20, 1886, on Boulder Creek, near 
Boulder City, Colorado. He writes me regarding these eggs as 
follows: ‘‘Judging from the different stages of advancement in 
the embryos, I am inclined to think that they were laid at inter- 
vals of from forty-eight to seventy-two hours and the eggs were 
covered continuously from the time the first one was laid. The 
burrow used for a nesting site by this pair of birds was an old 
Flicker’s hole, in a cottonwood tree, about twenty feet from the 
ground. There was nothing between the eggs and the bare wood 
bottom on which they lay that bore the semblance of a nest, 
excepting a little wood dust and a few wing and tail feathers of 
the Arctic Bluebird and several species of Sparrows. These 
feathers were without doubt the remnants of birds fed to the sitting 
female by her mate, the soiled and stained eggs showing plainly 
their coming in contact with the mangled food, devoured over 
them.” The female covered her eggs with great persistency and 
was only removed off them by force, snapping her bill and using 
her sharp claws with great energy when handled. Mr. Gale tells 
me that besides small birds, several species of the smaller rodents, 
frogs, and crawfish also form part of their bill of fare. 
* Since this article has been written, I notice that this fishing propensity is not con- 
fined to the two races mentioned therein, but is common to the Eastern form as well. 
See M. A. Frazar in Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, Vol. II, No. 3, July, 1877, p. 80, and 
Willard E. Treat in ‘The Auk,’ Vol. VI, No. 2, April, 1889, p. 189. 
