SCREECH OWL. 163 



SCREECH OWL. 



Megascops asio. 



[Plate 23— Red and gray phases.] 



The little Screech Owls are distributed over the temperate parts 

 of the globe and are among the better known of the Owls. 



The Common Screech Owl is distributed throughout the whole of the 

 United States and the southern portions of the British provinces. It is 

 separable into several geographic races, as is usual in species having 

 such an extensive distribution. The typical form (Megascops asio) 

 ranges from the eastern United States and the British provinces south 

 to about the thirty-second parallel and west to the Great Plains. The 

 Florida Screech Owl [Megascops asio floridanus) inhabits the Gulf States 

 from Louisiana to Florida and extends north along the coast to South 

 Carolina. The Texas Screech Owl {Megascops asio mccallii) is found 

 in southern Texas and eastern Mexico southward to Guatemala. The 

 Mexican Screech Owl [Megascops asio trichopsis) inhabits northwestern 

 Mexico, Lower California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The California 

 Screech Owl [Megascops asio bendirei) is limited to California. Kenui- 

 cott's Screech Owl [Megascops asio Tcennicottii) inhabits the Northwest 

 coast, from Oregon to Sitka, and east to northern Montana.* The 

 Eocky Mountain Screech Owl [Megascops asio maxwellice) is found in 

 the Eocky Mountains, from Colorado to eastern Montana. 



Their food consists of a great variety of animal life, including mam- 

 mals, birds, reptiles, batrachians, fish, crustaceans, and insects. At 

 night-fall they begin their rounds, inspecting the vicinity of farm-houses, 

 barns, and corncribs, making trips through the orchard and nurs- 

 eries, gliding silently across the meadows or encircling the stacks 

 of grain in search of mice and insects. Thousands upon thousands 

 of mice of different kinds thus fall victims to their industry. Their 

 economic relations therefore are of the greatest importance, particu- 

 larly on account of the abundance of the species in many of the farm- 

 ing districts, and whoever destroys them through ignorance or preju- 

 dice should be severely condemned. 



Those who have rambled much in the country in the clear winter 

 mornings must have noticed the tracks of mice which often form 

 networks in the snow, crossing and recrossing, passing in and out of 

 walls and stacks, or converging toward some choice bit of food — all tend- 



* Mr. William Brewster (Auk, vol. viii, 1891, pp. 140-144) divided this race into three 

 subspecies. Typical Tcennicottii inhabiting the coast of Alaska from Sitka southward ; 

 macfarlanei, Fort Walla Walla, Washington, Hellgate, Montana, and probably the en- 

 tire intermediate region, northward into the interior of British Columbia ; and satura- 

 tus, the shores and islands of Puget Sound, ranging southward along the coast to 

 Salem, Oregon. In the same paper (on page 139), a new race, aileeni, is described 

 from El Paso County, Colorado. 



