THE SCREECH OWL. 355 



and West it ranges well into the Great Plains, having been taken in central 

 Texas at Long Point, and it is reported as abundant in Kansas, not uncom- 

 mon in Nebraska, and has been met with near Vermillion, Clay County, 

 South Dakota, where it is said to be rare. In northern Minnesota and north- 

 ern Maine it is rather rare ; it is also found along the southern border of the 

 Dominion of Canada. Mr. T. Mcllwraith, in his "Birds of Ontario," says: 

 "It is the most abundant of the Owls in this part of the country, yet, like 

 the others, it is of very irregular occurrence. I have met with it once or 

 twice in the woods in summer, but it is most frequently seen in winter when 

 the ground is covered with snow." 



Mr. M. Chamberlain, in his "Catalogue of Canadian Birds," says: "It 

 occurs from Lake Huron to the Atlantic, though rare in the maritime prov- 

 inces." Professor Macoun reports having taken one example, at Birtle, in 

 northwestern Manitoba, in about latitude 50° 30' ; but I believe this speci- 

 men is more likely to be Megascops asio maxwellice. 



It is well known that the Screech Owl is subject to two distinct varia- 

 tions of plumage, the rufous and the gray, and young birds in both phases are 

 often found in the same nest, even when the parents are of the same color. 

 It is not as yet well understood to what this difference in coloration is due; 

 certain climatological conditions may, however, be a considerable factor. 

 While in some sections the two phases are nearly equally common, in others 

 one or the . other predominates. From what I have been able to ascertain 

 it appears that the rufous phase is most frequently found in the Mississippi 

 Valley, while the reverse seems to be the case near the Atlantic seacoast. 



The Screech Owl is strictly nocturnal in its habits and is rarely seen 

 in the daytime, which it passes in a hollow tree or in some dense thicket 

 which the sunlight rarely penetrates. From such retreats it is often flushed 

 by the attacks of the Blue Jay, which is the bane of its existence, and by 

 other birds as well, which annoy it persistently wherever met with and gen- 

 erally cause it to seek safety in flight. The attention of the collector is 

 often drawn to it by the noisy scoldings heard at such times. 



It is a constant resident wherever found. Although often living in the 

 immediate vicinity of farmhouses (old orchards being especially favored by 

 them), yet on account of its retiring and unobtrusive habits it is seldom seen 

 during the greater part of the year, though often enough heard in the early 

 evenings throughout the mating season, when its doleful call notes are sure 

 to be heard. In the winter when snow covers the ground, the trees de- 

 nuded of their foliage, and food is scarce in the forests, many of these 

 Owls that spent the summer in such localities now seek some dark and 

 secluded nook in the outbuildings, corncribs, and haylofts about farmhouses 

 in the vicinity, and are then more readily observed. 



The Screech Owl, although considered by not a few superstitious and 

 illiterate persons as a bird of ill omen, portending bad luek to the people 

 whose home it frequents, is one of the most profitable and useful birds a 



