120 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



in Bendire's Life Histories). It feeds almost exclusively on mice and 

 insects, rarely attacking birds. It is itself often destroyed by the Barred 

 owl and other carnivorous species, as is shown by the stomach exami- 

 nations made by the Biological Survey. I have also found the feathers 

 of this little owl on several occasions where it had been devoured by some 

 stronger antagonist, and Mr Dutcher mentions a similar occurrence in 

 his Long Island notes. 



The little Saw-whet usually lays her eggs in the deserted hole of 

 a woodpecker. Sometimes an old squirrel nest or a crow's nest is utilized, 

 and it has been known to occupy a hollow log or box artificially constructed. 

 The eggs vary from 4 to 7 in number, oval in shape, pure white without 

 gloss, and measure about 1.20 by i inch. 



Otus asio asio (Linnaeus) 

 Screech Owl 



Plate 56 



Strix asio Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1758. 1:92 

 Bubo asio DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 25, fig. 25 and 26 

 Otus asio asio. A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 172. No. 373 

 otus, Lat., Gr., w'o;;, an eared owl; a'sio, Lat., a kind of homed owl 



Description. Small ; ear tufts conspicuous ; coloration dichromatic. 

 Gray phase: Upper parts brownish gray, everywhere mottled and dappled 

 with lighter and darker shades and with fine shaft streaks of blackish ; spots 

 on scapulars form a whitish or buffy band; wings and tail barred distinctly 

 but not sharply with dusky and whitish; under parts grayish white with 

 fine streaks and fine wavy crossbars of blackish; a few touches of rufous; 

 prevailing color gray. Red phase: bright rufous or rust red where the gray 

 phase is brownish or dtisky gray, the fine shaft stripes of the feathers 

 blackish as before. Specimens intermediate between the red and gray 

 phases are quite common. Both red and gray owls may come from the 

 same brood. The particular phase of coloration of each individual shows 

 in the first plumage, but the color may be controlled somewhat by the 

 food given in captivity. In New York my experience would show that 

 the gray phase is at least 10 times as common as the red, and it has 

 happened (perhaps merely happened) that the red owls which I have 

 dissected have been feeding on crayfish. The fact that the red phase 

 is more common in the Mississippi valley might possibly be correlated 



