I04 The Screech Owl 



roosting places of the sparrows. This good report of 

 the screech owl seems to be common in other states 

 besides New Jersey and New York. From Mount 

 Perry, Ohio, Mr. R. S. Russell writes as follows: 



"Last summer the English sparrows were so thick 

 around my house as almost to set me wild, when a 

 little screech owl got to visiting us every night and at 

 each visit he carried off a sparrow. My house is 

 thickly covered with vines, and the Uttle owl would 

 make a dash into the vines and capture his sparrow 

 every time. By fall they were well thinned out." 



The screech owl breeds throughout its range, gen- 

 erally in hollow trees, but not in the deep woods. 

 Little nesting material, other than rotten wood and 

 a few feathers, is used. The eggs, varying in number 

 from four to six, are white and nearly round, and 

 in our latitudes are usually deposited from the fifth 

 to the twentieth of April. 



The young, if taken a few days before they are 

 ready to leave the nest, may be tamed quite easily. 



In the latter part of June, 1Q04, I was informed 

 that a coachman had caught two little owls while 

 they were lazily dozing the morning hours away on 

 the top of a woodpile. I called upon the man, and 

 ■^as informed that he had two owls, which he called 

 "cat-owls." They were in a box by the barn, and 



