Occurrence in Large Numbers of Seventeen Species of Birds, 59 



gun, and returned to secure the bird, but he failed to get it. While 

 Grossing the field, which was inundated with water, numbers of 

 short-eared owls flew up, until over thirty were counted in the air at 

 one time. There was only one tree in the place, and on it all of the 

 owls perched, presenting a very curious and unusual sight. All of 

 the lower parts of the field where the owls were congregated was 

 flooded by rains, driving the mice to patches of higher ground and 

 giving the owls a chance to capture and devour them. 



*'One owl shot in this field contained three full-grown meadow 

 mice. Of over twenty of these owls examined since November,, 

 1886, up to May [St (and excepting in one instance, November 

 26, when I took an imported sparrow from one), their food 

 seemed to be exclusively mice."* 



382. Conurus carolinensis, Linn. Carolina Paroquet. 



"Mr. Joseph Settle tells me that Paroquets occurred in large 

 numbers near Madisonville during the summers of 1837, '38 and 

 '39. Few were seen in 1840, and none after that date."f 



The Mr. Settle here mentioned, now deceased, was a prominent 

 citizen and farmer, residing near Madisonville, and he described 

 the birds to me as "green birds, in large flocks like blackbirds," 

 and stated that they did much damage in the large apple orchard. 



The date was distinctly fixed in his mind by the circumstance of 

 moving from Plainville to Madisonville in 1840, and co incident 

 with his removal he noticed the scarcity of the paroquets, as com- 

 pared with the two or three preceding years. 



4^0. Chordeiles virginianus, Gmel. Night Hawk. 



"August 28, 1878: This species seen migrating in large num- 

 bers about dusk. They first appeared straggling along in twos and 

 threes, but in a few moments twenty-five or thirty appeared in sight 

 at once. About fifty seen in all, bearing steadily toward the south- 

 east before an approaching storm." —Note book, F. W. L. 



488. Corvus americanus, Aud. American Crow. A marked 

 feature of avian life in the vicinity of Cincinnati, is the "crow- 

 roost," situated in the suburb of Clifton, within three miles of the 

 center of the city "as the crow flies." From this point their long 

 lines of flight radiate like the spokes of a wheel over the surround- 

 ing country for many miles, starting at day-break and returning 

 between four and five o'clock in the evening. 



*From the Journal of the Cincinnati Socie'y of Natural His:ory, July, 1887. 

 fLangdon, " Qbs rvations on Cincinnati Bird ," Journal of the Cincinnati 

 Society of Natural History, Vol. I., p. 115, 187 \ 



