BIRDS OF NEW YORK 



121 



with the abundance of crayfish in that region. Nestlings: Covered with 

 white down. Fledglings: Uniformly and finely crossbarred with dusky 

 and grayish white. 



Length 7.5-10 inches; extent 22; wing 6-7.2; tail 3-3.5; weight 4-6 

 ounces. 



Distribution. The Screech owl inhabits eastern North America 

 from Minnesota, Ontario and New Brunswick to Texas and Georgia; 

 represented in the remainder of temperate and tropical America by closely 

 allied forms. In New York it is generally distributed except in the spruce 

 and balsam belt, where it is 

 mostly absent, since it is an 

 austral species, but reaches the 

 northern limit of the Transi- 

 tion zone. It is our commonest 

 owl, averaging from i to 3 pairs 

 for each square mile of country, 

 and is as strictly resident as 

 any native species. It prefers 

 orchards, groves and shade trees 

 to the depths of the forest and 

 I have found it nesting within 

 the limits of New York City, 

 Rochester, Buffalo, Geneva and 

 Canandaigua. 



Habits. The Screech owl 

 remains concealed during the 

 day in a hollow tree or dense 

 evergreen. I have often discov- 

 ered him perched within the entrance of some jagged hollow with his ear 

 tufts raggedly elevated and his eyelids drawn obliquely together, appar- 

 ently watching the progress of events as the day wore by. If approached 

 too closely he seemed to melt away so gradually that no motion was evi- 

 dent. As soon as the dusk of evening comes, he issues forth and utters his 



Screech owl 



Phuto by Guy A. Bailey 



