July, 1881.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



35 



tha Ornithological Collections made in 

 Nevada and Arizona," says, "It is apparent- 

 ly quite common in Arizona and New 

 Mexico. Its notes are quite similar to the 

 (Western) mottled owl, (/Scops maccal'i,) 

 by imitating which, I succeeded in entic- 

 ing one, step by steji, till he finally sat on 

 the top of a small oak within thirty feet, 

 and scanned my person with evident as- 

 tonishment, and, I could not help fancying, 

 with an air of abused confidence. 



Among the pine woods of the White 

 Mountains, Arizona, these owls apjieared 

 to be particularly numerous toward the 

 latter part of October, and I had good rea- 

 son for believing that at this season they 

 are quite gregarious. During a week's 

 reconnoissance here, scarcely a camp was 

 made but that at some period of the day 

 the notes of this species could be beard, 

 usually coming from some perch, hidden 

 away in the tops of the lofty pines. These 

 notes were most frequent at about nine in 

 the morning, at which time they apjjeared 

 to gather at some rendezvous, and then 

 doze away the time till about four in the 

 afternoon, when they again became noisy, 

 and prepra-ed to sally cut for a fresh sup- 

 ply of provisions. When camped one 

 morning in a little valley hemmed in on 

 all sides by steep banks, clothed with pines, 

 I estimated there must have been at least 



Concliuled next Month. 



The Screech Owl in Confinement. 



On May 10, 1880, I procured a Screech 

 Owl, {/Scops aslo) which had been taken 

 from the nest when half growii. It has 

 betn continuously caged ever since, except 

 one weak in last December, when it escap- 

 ed, and was recaptured seven days after. 

 It is probable that it fasted the entire 

 week, for the ground was covered with 

 sn3w, and never having foraged for itself, 

 its chances for food were small, and it 

 was ravenously hungry when found. Sev- 

 eral weeks since I bonglit a mate for it. 

 and a day or two after they both escaped, 

 but my pet did not leave, and when I dis- 

 covered the cage door open and went to 



close it the owl came flying down on my 

 shoulder from a tree near by. After its 

 first moult its plumage became and still 

 continues a rich rufous ; it had been a mot- 

 tled gray and black. In watching this 

 owl I have noticad that at all times, but 

 esj)ocially during the warm weather of 

 summer, contrary to tlie observations of 

 several naturalists, it both drank and bath- 

 ed freely and with unmistakable delight. 

 I have made some queer experiments with 

 its food. At one time it killed and swal- 

 lowed whole three full-grown mice in 

 quick succession : another time it killed 

 and ate a common water snake over a foot 

 long. Snakes give it a great deal of 

 trouble, twisting themselves about its legs 

 and refusing to be swallowed, by catching 

 on and wrapping their tails about the 

 perch. It relishes the cinnamon bat when 

 killed ; I have not tried it with a live one. 

 It has killed rats nearly full-grown. When 

 a rat or mouse is put into the cage it 

 pounces upon, it catching it with its claws 

 through the neck and small of the back, 

 and then brings down its bill and nips it 

 along the spine from the head to the 

 tail, and then, if not too large, swallows it 

 entire. Ten to twelve sphynx moths fur- 

 nish but an ordinary meal, although the 

 scales and dust sometimes nearly choke it. 

 It always tears off the wings and crushes 

 the bodies of all insects before swallowing. 

 Grasshoppers,May beetles, and "such small 

 deer," are also relished. It will catch and 

 eat anything in the day time qiaite as freely 

 as at night. It pounces with unerring 

 certainty upon anything put alive into the 

 cage, and it quickly determines the ques- 

 tion of food, whether good or not. Toads 

 it eschews, though it will kill and eat frogs. 

 It shows a natural aversion to and fear of 

 hawks, buzzards, etc., the passage of which 

 over its cage is instantly noticed. It 

 has great fear of cats and dogs, making its 

 feathers lie as flat as possible, snapping 

 its bill and making a rattling noise when- 

 ever they come near. 



Edgar A. Small, Hagarstown, Md. 



