THE OOLOGIST 



51 



On December 23, 1916, while gun- 

 ning with my brother George, in a 

 low, marshy swamp, we flushed four 

 Snipes, one which George shot. It 

 shot up too badly for a skin. It was 

 quite fat and in winter plumage. 



On December 30, 1916, my younger 

 brother William, flushed a Snipe in 

 this marsh, where George shot me on 

 New Year's day. I preserved its skin. 

 It was in winter plumage, and altho 

 fat and in excellent condition its 

 stomach was completely empty. I 

 was shot at 9 a. m. 

 On January 13, George killed another 

 Snipe in this marsh, where a boy told 

 him there was three others earlier in 

 the day. 



This bird was too badly mutilated 

 to skin. It was very dirty in winter 

 plumage, and its stomach was about 

 empty, yet it was in good physical 

 condition and carried some fat on its 

 body. 



On March 1, I saw a Snipe in the 

 marsh which I think was a neAv 

 migrant because it was in spring 

 plumage. 



These are the first Snipes that I 

 have ever seen in winter anywhere 

 in the vicinity of Philadelphia, where 

 it has rarely been observed or taken at 

 this season. 



Richard P. Miller. 



Note on the Barn Owl Foods 



Much has been written about the 

 economic value of the Barn Owl and 

 all ornithologists are agreed that it is 

 a highly beneficial species. 



According to my experience, the 

 Barn Owls subsist entirely upon mice, 

 for all the pellets of the birds that I 

 have examined have contained only 

 the remains, bones and fur, of mice 

 (Microtus pennsylvanicus et pinetor- 

 um) identified by the skulls. 



On April 14, 1917, I examined five 

 cast-up pellets of the Barn Owl which 



I found under a hollow tree used as 

 a roost by one of the birds. They con- 

 tained the remains of 3&3&3&4&4 

 mice. M. pennsylvanicus in the shape 

 of skulls, bones and fur. This indi- 

 cates that the bird had fed prodigious- 

 ly on these pests. 



Of the hundreds of pellets of the 

 Barn Owl which I have examined in 

 southeastern Pennsylvania, I have 

 never found the remains of any species 

 of birds in them; they have all con- 

 tained the remains of the above 

 species of mice, and mostly of the 

 Pennsylvania Vol, (M. pennsylvani- 

 cus). 



Richard P. Miller. 



A great part of Jefferson County, 

 Oregon, is sage covered plains and 

 rolling buttes covered here and there 

 with patches of junipers. Deschute 

 and crooked river canyons run 

 through the county separating in a 

 way the sage covered area of the 

 county from the mountains in the 

 western part of the county. 



The writer during the year 1916 

 from April 1st to August 15th, had a 

 splendid opportunity to study some of 

 the birds of the sage land area and 

 consequently spent many pleasant 

 days - afield with his collecting box 

 and camera. The birds around Cul- 

 ver differed quite a bit from the birds 

 inhabiting the canyons of the Crooked 

 and Deschutes river about four miles 

 away, as did the birds inhabiting the 

 fringe of timber along the foothills of 

 the mountains further west. The al- 

 titude of Culver and immediate locali- 

 ty is 2760 feet. That of the canyons 

 is about 1600 feet. 



L. R. Howsley, 

 • The Dalles, Ore. 



Scattered Notes for The Oologist 



The September 1917 issue, latest, of 

 The Oologist, contains a short article 



