Birds of the Cambridge region. 201 



russet color closely matched certain of the reddish tints of its own exquisite 

 plumage. But it either overestimated the value of protective coloring or was 

 absurdly trustful, for my assistant, Mr. Gilbert, mounting on a step-ladder, 

 caught the bird in his hand without the slightest difficulty. Mr. M. Abbott 

 Frazar tells me that many of the specimens which he receives for preservation 

 are captured in a similar manner. 



Although the Saw-whet Owl is not known to breed in the Cambridge Re- 

 gion, it probably does so occasionally, for young birds in the juvenal l^albifrons ') 

 plumage have been taken in June or July in Newton, and also on Deer Island 

 in Boston Harbor,' while nests containing eggs or young have been repeatedly 

 found within thirty or forty miles of Boston. 



99. Megascops asio (Linn.). 

 Screech Owl. 



Common permanent resident. 



NESTING DATES. 



April 15 — 25. 



The Screech Owl is one of the best examples which the Cambridge fauna 

 affords of a permanently resident species, for it is about equally common here at 

 all seasons and there are apparently no reasons for believing that our local birds 

 ever wander more widely than they find it necessary to do in order to secure 

 food and suitable breeding places. It is possible, of course, that their numbers 

 are sometimes added to in winter by a slight influx of more northern-bred individ- 

 uals, but of this I have seen no good evidence. In our neighborhood Screech 

 Owls nest, as a rule, in apple orchards, preferring those bordering on meadows or 

 woodland and containing old and neglected trees with hollow trunks or branches. 

 I can remember when there were many orchards of this character near Fresh 

 Pond and scattered throughout Watertown, Belmont and Arlington, and when 

 nearly every one of them harbored its pair of breeding Owls. Within the past 

 ten or fifteen years most of the older trees have been cut down or so carefully 

 trimmed and patched that they no longer furnish the conditions which the birds 

 require. 



'R. Deane, Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, II, 1877, 84. 



