﻿52 



Cincinnati Society of Natural History. 



and it would be accompanied in the marl beneath by a sort of 

 branching stem in relief. This would show on the surface of the 

 mold, the ridges, and the teeth of the edge of the gallery. These 

 ornaments of this particular nature, should put us on our guard and 

 make us cautious about attributing to a vegetable, a mold in a 

 cavity made by the inner face of a layer of grit. But as the gallery 

 may have been previously filled up by clay, and this is possible, it 

 could not leave more than the one side in half relief, ^covered with 

 blunt points, and we would then, without doubt, find it somewhat 

 difficult to determine its true nature. 



THE LITTLE SCREECH WL (Scops asio, Linn). 

 By John W. Shorten. 



Presented by Wm. Hubbell Fisher. 



From the beginning of November, 1884, up to this date (Feb- 

 ruary 3, 1885), I have personally examined the fresh bodies of not 

 less than forty-five Little Screech Owls (Scops asio L.). All these 

 I have skinned. 



The plumage of fully two-thirds of this number was of the kind 

 known as the Red, in contradistinction to that known as the Gray. 

 This fact is interesting in view of the observations made to the east 

 of the Allegheny Mountains, showing that there the Gray variety 

 predominated.* 



A remarkable fact in connection with these owls is, that they were, 

 for the most part, taken in this city or its suburbs. Some of them 

 came down through the chimneys into the houses and were cap- 

 tured. My theory is, that the owls sought the chimneys for pro- 

 tection from the weather. 



I surmise that these birds were attracted to the city by the En- 

 glish Sparrows (Passer domesticus L.) } which are found here in great 

 numbers. 



In my experience as a taxidermist and ornithologist, I have never 

 met with so many Screech Owls in any winter, as I have between 

 November, 1884, and February, 1885. 



* For an interesting article on Dichromatism in the Screech Owl, in Ohio, Ken- 

 tucky and Indiana, see this JOURNAL, V., pp. 52, 53. 



