160 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



until it lay still at the end of the shelf. The owl now assumed 

 a crouching position and suddenly pounced on the dead sparrow, 

 which he devoured later. 



All of the pellets thrown out by the owl have been saved. They 

 number nine in all. 



These were made from ten English sparrows and one white- 

 footed mouse. Whether this ratio of pellets to food consumed 

 could be followed when collecting pellets under roost trees in the 

 owl's natural environment, I am not prepared to say. 



I wish to add further, in regard to the food offered the owl, 

 that he entirely ignored the heads of two fish (flounders), which 

 I tied to branches in the roost. 



It is my intention to return this little owl to the patch of 

 cedars from which he was removed two weeks ago. It is hoped 

 that life with him will proceed as before, and that when spring 

 comes he, with his fellows, will return north to mate and rear 

 little saw-whets. His two weeks' confinement has, in a way, 

 brought me close to him. His peculiar mannerisms and varying 

 attitudes and facial expressions have stamped themselves per- 

 manently upon my memory; but the thought that will cause the 

 greatest feeling of inward satisfaction will be the readiness with 

 which English sparrows were consumed by this veritable little 

 pellet mill. 



