114 



BIRDS OP PENNSYLVANIA. 



GENUS MEGASCOPS. KAUP. 



373. Megascops asio. (LiNN.). 







Screech Owl ; Red Owl ; Mottled Owl ; Gray Owl. 



DESCRIPTION. {Plate 18.) 



Adult or young Screech Owls may be either red or gray in color. The nestlings 

 are white. This species measures about 10 inches in length ; extent of wings about 

 22 inches. 



Hab. Temperate eastern North America, south to Georgia and west to the plains. 

 Accidental in England. 



This handsome little owl is the most common of all owls found in 

 Pennsylvania. It is a resident, but unlike the Long-eared species, is 

 not gregarious. Its almost spherical and white eggs from four to six 

 in number (mostly four) are deposited in a hollow tree. A tree in 

 an apple orchard is frequently made use of for breeding purposes, as 

 well as a common diurnal resort at all seasons. The eggs measure 

 about 1.33 by 1.18 inches. This bird, when taken from the nest and 

 raised, makes a very interesting pet, one that not only becomes at- 

 tached to its master, but which also is capable of rendering him most 

 efficient services in the destruction of mice, whose vexatious ravages 

 are frequently so annoying. Some few years ago an acquaintance of 

 mine placed two of these birds in his cellar which was overrun with 

 mice, and in a few weeks the place was depopulated of these little 

 four-footed pests. 



A Screech Owl which I kept for several months in captivity fed 

 eagerly on grasshoppers and pieces of fresh beef. When a mouse was 

 given to this bird it would seize it with its claws, and after severing 

 with its bill the skin about the head and neck, would swallow the 

 whole mass, always, I think, head foremost. When it fed on small 

 birds which were frequently shot and placed in its box but which 

 it would seldom touch, I noticed that it generally tore open the skull 

 and eat the brain substance. This owl would never drink water. 



The flight of the Mottled Owl is smooth, rapid, protracted and 

 noiseless. It rises at times above the top branches of the highest of 

 our forest trees whilst in pursuit of large beetles ; and at other times 

 sails low and swiftly over the fields, or through the woods, in search 



