°1Q6 BIRDS OF OHIO. 



woods, but has been found on several occasions in an out- 

 house of one of the lake summer resorts. The most of the 

 reports of its occurrence fall within the colder part -of the 

 year, but it has. been seen at GncinnatiinMiay (Dury), and 

 it was found in May at Licking reservoir (Dawson). 



"The food of this little Owl is composed almost wholly of 

 mice, of which the wood-dwelling species seem to predomi- 

 nate. At times it attacks larger mammals, such as rats, half- 

 grown red squirrels and chipmunks. .... It rarely molests 

 small birds, unless its favorite food — mice — for some rea- 

 son, is scarce. Occasionally it feeds on scraps of raw or 

 cooked meat which it has been observed to pick up in the 

 vicinity of camps, and in winter, in the north, it will feed 



on the carcasses of comparatively large animals It 



also feeds to some extent on insects of various kinds. Thus 

 it will be seen that while the diminutive size of the Saw- 

 whet limits its powers of usefulness, its mode of life ren- 

 ders it a useful adjunct to the farmer, and, small though it 

 be, yet in districts where it abounds the number of mice it 

 annually destroys must be very large." (Fisher.) 



143. (373.) Megascops Asio (Linn.). 158. 

 Screech Owl. 



Synonyms: Scops asio, Strix nsevia. 



Mottled Owl, Little Horned Owl, Red Owl. 

 Kirtland, Ohio Geol. Surv., 1838, 161, 179. 



This is one of the most numerous and best known of our 

 owls, and is the bird from which most persons get their 

 idea of what an owl is like. In the more settled districts 

 this owl seems to prefer to live in buildings other than 

 dwellings, or in hollow shade trees. There are numerous 



'instances of captures during the evening church service 

 which, from all accounts, left neither the owl nor the audi- 

 ence in a worshipful frame of mind ! The natural home of 



-the Screech Owl is the deeper woods, where it frequently 

 roosts and always nests in hollows in trees. It also spends 



. the day in some thick foliaged tree. On the Oberlin Col- 



• lege campus a male is in the habit of spending the day in 



