358 LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



'Friday morning I found a large Plymouth Rock rooster with his head 

 and neck badly torn and covered with blood, and, after some search, I saw a 

 small Owl up in the barn. I caught it and found fresh blood on the feathers 

 around its beak. To be sure it was the Owl that did the mischief, I put both 

 the fowl and the bird in a darkened place and was at once treated to a sur- 

 prise, for the Owl flew at the cock and lit on his neck, and began to pick at 

 his head in a very furious manner. Being sure that I had the culprit, I boxed 

 it up and sent it to you. The rooster weighed 9 pounds alive, rather large prey 

 for such a small bird.'" 



They are easily tamed and make rather amusing pets, are cleanly in theii 

 habits, and very fond of bathing. 



The eggs of the Screech Owl are pure white in color, usually oval or 

 nearly globular in shape, and moderately glossy. In the majority of speci- 

 mens the shell is smooth and finely granulated, while in a few it is rough to the 

 touch. They are deposited at intervals of a day or two. 



The average measurement of fifty-six specimens in the U. S. National 

 Museum- collection is 35.5 by 30 millimetres, the largest egg of the series 

 measuring 38 by 31, the smallest 32 by 29.5 millimetres. 



The type specimen. No. 20571 (PI. 12, Fig. 8), selected from a set of four, 

 Bendire collection, was taken near Orange, New Jersey, April 20, 1875. 



122. Megascops asio floridanus (Ridgway). 



FLORIDA SCREECH OWL. 



Scops asio var. floridanus Ridgway, Bulletin Essex Institute, December, 1873, 300. 

 Megascops asio floridanus Stejneger, Auk, ii, April, 1885, 184. 

 (B — , C 318c, R 403a, C 469, U 373a.) 



Geographical range: Southern South Carolina and Georgia, Florida and the 

 Gulf coast to southern Louisiana. 



The breeding range of the Florida Screech Owl, a much darker and smaller 

 bird than the preceding, and like it, found in both the red and gray phases of 

 plumage, extends from southern South Carolina, southern Georgia and Florida, 

 westward along the Gulf coast to southern Louisiana, where, according to Dr. 

 A. K. Fisher, it is not uncommon in the vicinity of New Orleans. A Screech 

 Owl has also been reported as breeding- at Houma, Terre Bonne County, Loui- 

 siana, which is unquestionably referable to this race, and it probably reaches 

 west to southern Texas. It is a constant resident wherever found. 



The general habits of the Florida Screech Owl are similar to those of 

 the preceding subspecies. Like it, it never constructs a nest of its own, 

 but lays its eggs in the abandoned excavations of the larger Woodpeckers 

 or in natural hollows in trees, old stumps, cabbage palmettos, and occasion- 

 ally in a dovecot, and in the latter case usually dispossessing the rightful 

 owners. 



