122 



373a. Megascops asio floridanus (Ridgw.). [402a.] Florida Screech Owl. 



This form of the Screech Owl, previously known only from South 

 Carolina to Florida, was procured in souther q Louisiana by Dr. A. K. 

 Fisher, who examined several specimens. 



373b. Megascops asio mccallii (Cass.). [4026.] Texas Screecli Owl. 



Eesident in Texas, whence reported from Tom Green and Concho 

 counties, where it is abundant in winter from about September 10 to 

 March 10 (Lloyd). In eastern Texas, near Houston, it seems to be com- 

 mon (Nehrling). 



375. Bubo virginianus (Gmel.). [405.] Great Homed Owl. 



A common resident over the whole of the Mississippi Valley east of 

 the Great Plains. 



The following unique owl story was contributed by Mr. H. F. Peters, 

 of Bonham, in northeastern Texas : 



On the 10th of March, 1883, I was out hunting in some woods, and flushed a Great 

 Horned Owl from a large stump about 20 feet high. I shot at and missed it, hut 

 coming up to the stump I could see an Owl's head above the top of it. I would not 

 shoot him there as I did not want to climb for him. It was hard work to make him 

 leave the stump, but, by nearly hitting him with a stick, he flew off and I killed him. 

 He was a young Great Horned Owl. When he left the nest I distinctly saw some- 

 thing move there. My son climbed up and found two owlets about six or eight days 

 old. We left them there, and that evening at dusk I killed a female Barred Owl, and 

 the next morning a male Barred Owl off the top of the same stump where the young 

 ones were. We then secured the two young owls and kept them a year, until they 

 grew to be two fine Barred Owls. A few days later I killed two Great Horned Owls 

 (a male and female) in close proximity to the place. Thus we have a case of two 

 species of owls breeding at the same time in the same nest, with at least a month's 

 difference in ihe ages of the young. The young Horned Owl was barely fledged, and 

 I am sure had never been out of the nest until I drove him out. There were bones 

 and offal around the stump, showing that it had been used for some time as a breed- 

 ing place. 



375a. Bubo virginianus subarcticus (Hoy). [405a in part.] Western Horned Owl. 



This is the western representative of the Great Horned Owl. It 

 breeds from western Manitoba and Dakota southward, over the Great 

 Plains, to Texas, and even to the table-lands of Mexico. Stragglers 

 have been taken in Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Dr. Agersborg 

 states that it occurs in southeastern Dakota nearly every winter. In 

 Tom Green and Concho counties, in western Texas, where it is an 

 "abundant resident," Mr. Lloyd says of it : 



Breeds from February 20 to end of May in hackberry or mesquit on prairies^ and in 

 holes in the large pecans on rivers. I have rarely found more than two eggs in one 

 clutch; threej however, occur in about one nest in six. Feeds on poultry, skuuks, 

 and rabbits, and is often on wing during the day. The birds seem to grow lighter 

 with age. (The Auk, Vol. IV, 1887, p. 190.) 



375b. Bubo virginianus arcticus (Swains.). [4056.] Arctic Homed Owl. 



Breeds in Arctic America, coming south in winter, irregularly and 

 rarely to Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming. 



