42 BIRDS OF ARKANSAS. 



prey which is persistently slaughtered at every opportunity under the 

 mistaken notion that it kills chickens. Its food consists chiefly of mice 

 and other small mammals, with a small percentage of wild birds. 



Short-eared Owl. Asio flammeus. 



The short-eared owl is almost cosmopolitan in its distribution, but 

 is known to occur in the breeding season in the United States no 

 farther south than Missouri. In winter it moves southward and is 

 often found in flocks in various parts of the United States. It prefers 

 more open country than most other owls, habitually seeking its food 

 and building its nest on the prairies or marshes. Hollister recorded 

 its presence in small numbers in winter on the Grand Prairie around 

 Stuttgart, and it is doubtless generally distributed at that season 

 over the prairie lands of the State. 



Barred Owl. Strix varia varia. 



The barred owl, or "hoot owl," as it is frequently called, is prob- 

 ably the most abundant member of its family in the State. A few 

 may be found in nearly every large tract of river-bottom timber and 

 it is particularly common in the heavy swamps of the eastern coun- 

 ties. It is a permanent resident wherever found. The range of the 

 northern subspecies can not be defined, since no specimens of this form 

 are available; but it probably occupies the mountainous regions in 

 the northern and western parts of the State. Records of barred owls 

 from Fayetteville and Chester are doubtless referable to the northern 

 bird. This owl has been accused of visiting chicken roosts and carry- 

 ing off young or half-grown fowls, but examination by the Biological 

 Survey of over 100 stomachs of this species demonstrated that its food 

 ordinarily consists chiefly of mice and other small mammals, insects, 

 birds, crawfish, frogs, and fish. Only three of the stomachs examined 

 contained poultry. Hence the barred owl is considered in the main 

 a beneficial species and worthy of protection. 



Florida Barred Owl. Strix varia alleni. 



The southern form of the barred owl occurs in the southern half of 

 Arkansas, as shown by specimens from Wilmot, Delight, and Van 

 Buren, and its range very probably extends northward in the bottom 

 lands of the Mississippi to the northern border of the State. Barred 

 owls have been observed at Lake City, Walker Lake, Newport, and 

 McGehee. HolLister records them common in winter at Stuttgart. 

 At Wilmot, the last week in June, a number of these owls roosted every 

 day in a patch of overflowed timber, and at dusk one evening I saw 

 three fly out and sail leisurely down to a near-by slough, where they 

 procured their food. In this slough, about 8 o'clock one morning, I 

 shot a fully grown young one from the thick lower branches of an oak. 

 Examination of this bird's stomach showed that it had eaten a craw- 

 fish and a cutworm. 



