SCREECH OWL. 165 



No Owl except the Burrowing Owl is so destructive to noxious in- 

 sects as this species, it devouring with relish grasshoppers, crickets, 

 and a number of night- flying beetles. The stomachs of two young birds 

 which had recently left the nest were found distended with May beetles. 

 Prof, Samuel Aughey found remains of insects in all the specimens he 

 examined in Nebraska, and states: "It is largely an insect-eating 

 bird." Dr. B. H. Warren says: "During the summer months and at 

 other times when insect life is abundant the Screech Owls subsist 

 mainly on an insect diet." ( Birds of Pennsylvania, 1888, p. 115.) Dur- 

 ing the years 1884 and 1885 Mr. Charles Dury received at least sixteen 

 specimens from the vicinity of Cincinnati; twelve of these, including 

 one killed in January, contained remains of insects. 



Writers almost universally speak of the Screech Owl as a beneficial 

 species : 



"It preys on mice, small sparrows, etc., and very often catches noc- 

 turnal beetles and other insects. It thus destroys a large number of 

 field mice and the large cockchafer, so injurious to our fruit trees. In 

 winter it familiarly enters our barns and outhouses, where it becomes 

 an expert and industrious mouser." (Dr. E. Michener, U. S. Agricul- 

 tural Beport, 1863, pp. 291-292.) 



" The food is chiefly small quadrupeds, insects, and occasionally, 

 when they have young, small birds. They destroy a vast number of 

 mice, beetles, and vermin, and are of great service to the agricultu- 

 rist." (Baird, Brewer & Bidgway, History of North American Birds, 

 vol. in, p. 57.) 



"After dark it is all alive; not a mouse can stir without being ob- 

 served, and so quick and noiseless is the flight of the bird that few 

 escape which expose themselves." (Mcllwraith, Birds of Ontario, 1886, 

 p. 158) 



"A large number of castings of this species were examined on vari- 

 ous occasions, and found to be composed almost entirely of the fur and 

 bones of meadow and white-footed mice: with feathers of bluebird and 

 some sparrow in several cases; and sometimes insects.". (Mr. J. Percy 

 Moore, in epist.) 



Mr. George Jones, writing from Brookfield Center, Fairfield 

 County, Conn., says : "I think the smaller species of Owls feed upon the 

 cutworm to some extent. I have found cutworms in the stomach of 

 the common Screech Owl and in the Long-eared Owl. The fact that 

 both the cutworms and the Owls are nocturnal leads me tobelieve that 

 the Owls, of all the birds, are the most efficient exterminators of this for- 

 midable pest and should on this account receive protection. "The 

 farmers here are large growers of tobacco, and the damage done by 

 the cutworm to the young plants and the labor of resetting forced upon 

 the growers is almost incalculable. I believe that if our native Owls 

 were as plenty as some other species of birds the ravages of this de- 

 structive worm would be much less than at present." 



