BARRED OWL. 151 



Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History (vol. V, 1882, pp. 

 69-70), seems to answer the question conclusively : 



Washington, April 10, 1882. 



Dear Sir: The destruction of hawks will save an occasional fowl, but will cause 

 a great increase in the abundance of field-mice, rabbits, squirrels, snakes, frogs, etc., 

 upon which the hawks feed. 



It has now been conclusively shown, I think, that hawks perform an important func- 

 tion in maintaining in good condition the stock of game birds, by capturing the weak 

 and sickly, and thus preventing reproduction from unhealthy parents. One of the 

 most plausible hypotheses explanatory of the occasional outbreaks of disease among 

 the grouse of Scotland has been the extermination of these correctives, the disease 

 being most virulent where the game-keepers were most active in destroying what 

 they considered vermin. It is my firm conviction that in the average of well-settled 

 countries the hawks and owls are a benefit rather than the reverse to the community 

 in general, and to the farmer in particular. 

 Yours respectfully, 



Spencer F. Baird. 



This Owl seems to be more given to cannibalistic habits than any 

 of the other species. In seven stomachs the writer found the remains of 

 smaller Owls among the contents, and Mr. Austin F. Park mentions 

 finding the remains of a Screech Owl in the stomach of a Barred Owl 

 killed in a thickly built part of Troy, 23". Y. (Bull. Nuttall Ornith . Club, 

 vol. v, p. 185.) Mr. Charles Dury, in "Notes on the Food of Raptorial 

 Birds," says that he found a Screech Owl in the stomach of an individ- 

 ual shot near Cincinnati. (Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. vin, 

 1885, pp. 62-66.) Now and then small birds are killed by this species, 

 but mammals furnish a large proportion of its food. The remains of mice, 

 rabbits, squirrels (red, gray, and flying), shrews, moles, and occasion- 

 ally weasels, have been found among the stomach contents. The species, 

 owing to its large size, is capable of consuming large numbers of mice 

 at one meal. Dr. C. Hart Merriam took the remains of at least a dozen 

 red- backed mice (Uvotomys) from a single specimen killed near Moose 

 Eiver, in northern New York. 



Frogs and other batrachians are not uncommonly taken, and craw- 

 fish are evidently a somewhat favorite food, as shown by the frequency 

 of their occurence among the stomach contents. Fish are sometimes 

 eaten. Mr. Edward Swift, of Elmira, N. Y., has found their remains in 

 the stomach contents, and Dr. Warren relates that he was informed by 

 two gentlemen in Florida that it frequently preys on fish, which it 

 secures, by a dexterous movement of the foot, while sitting close to the 

 water's edge (Birds of Pennsylvania, 1888, p. 111). At certain times of 

 the year insects are considerably sought after by this bird, grasshop- 

 pers, crickets, and the larger beetles being the kinds most often taken. 



In summing up the facts relating to the food habits of this Owl it ap- 

 pears that, while the general statements of certain authors, especially 

 the earlier ones, charge the bird with the destruction of poultry, 

 game, and small birds, such destructive habits are comparatively un- 



