SHADOWY BIRDS OF THE NIGHT 



231 



materials in the fork of a tree or in a cavity 

 in rocks. One found by Donald Dickey in 

 southern California was located in a hole 

 in the side of a cliff fifty feet above the 

 bottom of a deep canyon. The parent 

 owl, which had two young, was tame and 

 unsuspicious and in no way resented 

 approach, once even alighting in the nest 

 cavity when it was being examined by a 

 man suspended from a rope. 



The note of the spotted owl is a hooting 

 call, heard most frequently during the nest- 

 ing season, when the birds may be quite 

 noisy. They have in addition a consider- 

 able variety of other notes. Occasionally 

 these birds may be attracted from their 

 coverts during the day by imitating the 

 shrieking of a wounded or frightened bird, 

 but except for this these owls are seldom 

 seen. 



The spotted owl feeds mainly on mice 

 and rats, occasionally taking birds. In 

 New Mexico and California it is recorded 

 as killing many of the abundant wood rats, 

 and a skull of the rare red tree mouse was 

 found in the stomach of one killed in north- 

 ern California. One kept in captivity by 

 E. S. Steele was tame and confiding and 

 never refused to take mice, rats, or chip- 

 munks from the hand, though even when 

 hungry this owl would not accept birds of 

 any kind. 



Three races are recognized. The Cali- 

 fornia spotted owl {Strix o. occidentalis) 

 ranges from central California in the Sierras 

 of Mariposa County to northern Baja Cali- 

 fornia. The northern spotted owl (Strix o. 

 caurina), somewhat darker, is found from 

 southern British Columbia to central Cali- 

 fornia, and the Mexican spotted owl {Strix 

 o. lucida), lighter below, occurs from Colo- 

 rado and Arizona to central Mexico. 



Screech Owl 

 {Otus asio) 



A tremulous, high-pitched call, quaver- 

 ing in ghostly cadence through the still 

 night air, announces the screech owl, best 

 known of the smaller American owls, as it 

 is found through a broad range (see page 

 233). 



To some superstitious folk of the South, 

 the note of this bird betokens the approach 

 of death or other trouble if uttered near a 

 house. As a charm to counteract the evil, 

 they turn. the left shoe upside down, pull 

 the left trousers pocket inside out, or cast 

 a bit of iron or a handful of salt in the 



fire — such are the beliefs of those who fol- 

 low omens. 



The ill thus imagined becomes fact and 

 not fancy to the mice and other small crea- 

 tures that form the food of this rapacious 

 bird. To them the screech owl is indeed a 

 goblin of the night. 



A bird of woodland groves and forests, 

 it dwells indifferently in the orchards of New 

 England, the scrub pines of the South, or 

 the scanty cottonwoods that follow the small 

 watercourses in the drier sections of the 

 West. It has prominent "horns" of feathers 

 that project above the head, distinguishing 

 it from any of our other small owls except 

 its cousins, the fiammulated and spotted 

 screech owls. 



By day the screech owl retires to hollows 

 in trees when these are available, and, fail- 

 ing these, to the densest cover accessible, 

 where it may hide from the eyes of other 

 birds and rest. When it is discovered, there 

 is loud outcry, as jays, cardinals, flickers, 

 titmice, and other small species gather to 

 peer and scold, reviling the one responsible 

 for the destruction of many of their num- 

 ber. Occasionally, when the owl is in an ex- 

 posed situation, the attack becomes real, 

 and, handicapped by daylight and by force 

 of numbers, the owl may be put to flight to 

 search for safer quarters. 



Among the screech owls found in the 

 eastern United States there are two distinct 

 color phases, one gray and one reddish 

 brown, as indicated in the two lower fig- 

 ures of the plate on page 233. These are 

 merely individual variations, as both red- 

 dish birds and gray birds are found in the 

 same family of young, regardless of sex. 

 Curiously, the western screech owls do not 

 exhibit these two definite styles in colora- 

 tion. 



Hollows in trees furnish nesting quarters 

 for these little owls, old woodpecker holes 

 being frequently selected. The eggs are 

 laid in the bottom of the hollow without 

 nesting material. Ordinarily from three to 

 five young constitute a family, but as many 

 as nine have been found. When the young 

 are out of the nest the parents often swoop 

 at the heads of passers-by, snapping their 

 bills threateningly. 



The screech owl feeds extensively on 

 mice of various kinds and on large insects. 

 Moths and beetles are taken in numbers 

 and birds of various sorts are eaten. Craw- 

 fish, frogs, spiders, small snakes, snails, 

 scorpions, earthworms, and millepedes in 



