The Horned Owls 



next resting place, screaming sarcastic apologies for their past rudeness, 

 and promising redoubled misbehavior. 



One wonders that they dare do it, for the sullen object of mirth will 

 assuredly wreak vengeance on them when his turn comes in the first watch 

 of the night. It is difficult to exaggerate the rapacity of these freebooters. 

 An observer in New York State, speaking, of course, of the eastern form, 

 "states that in a nest he examined, containing two young Owls, he found 

 the following animals: a mouse, a young muskrat, two eels, four bullheads, 

 a Woodcock, four Ruffed Grouse, one rabbit, and eleven rats. The food 



taken out of the nest 

 weighed almost eighteen 

 pounds. A curious fact 

 connected with these cap- 

 tives was that the heads 

 were eaten off, the bodies 

 being untouched." 1 

 The brain of the victim 

 is counted thetid-bit,and 

 in seasons of plenty the 

 bird will have nothing 

 else. Thus, while the 

 Owl probably will not 

 kill wantonly, it is notor- 

 iously wasteful, and the 

 coarser portions of these 

 choice viands of which 

 we read, these bloody 

 offerings to the infant 

 Dinops, are removed pe- 

 riodically from the nest. 

 While a certain 

 amount of "good" is un- 

 deniably accomplished 

 by the Horned Owl in 

 preying upon rats and 

 gophers, it is more than 

 offset by the relentless 

 attacks upon birds, espe- 

 cially upon meadowlarks, 

 quails, and grouse, and 





Taken in Los A ngeles County Photo by W. M. P ierce 



EGGS OF PACIFIC HORNED OWL ON LEDGE OF CLIFF 



1 Bendire, Life Histories, N. A 

 Birds, Vol. I., p. 382. 



IIl6 



