THE BIRDS OF WISCONSIN. 
69 
nest found at Delavan, May 29, 1898, contained three young-, 
of different sizes, and afforded a rather surprising lesson as to 
the destructiveness of this species to smaller birds during the 
breeding season. The young were probably ten to fourteen 
days old, and were literally resting on a mass of wing and tail 
feathers of the victims of their appetites. From this mass we 
picked out over six hundred feathers, and at the bottom of the 
nest the feathers were so mouldy and mixed with grass that no 
attempt was made to count or identify them. From those in a 
good state of preservation and reasonably fresh we positively 
identified the following varieties, all entirely unexpected, as we 
had always looked upon this species as pre-eminently a mouse 
and insect eater: Icterus galbula, Galeoscoptes, Hylocichla, 
Toxostoma, Yireo, Cistothorus, Piranga erythromelds, Agelaius 
phwniceus, Dolichonyx, Lanius! (one nearly entire tail), Seiurus 
aurocapillus, Dendroica wstwa, Geothtypis trichas, Setophaga 
ruticilla, Coccyztis, Regulus (2 tails), Porzana Carolina, 
Porzana noveboracensis, Actitis mac id aria, Mgialitis vocifcra, 
Spiza americana, Antrostomus rocifcrus (at least two), Sialia 
sialis, Zamelodia ludoriciana, Stumella magna, Pipilo 
erythrophthalmus, tyo species oLsmall Tyrannidw, and among 
the large number of wing and tail feathers of warblers were 
Dendroica maculosa, D. blackburniw, D. cairulcscens, and 
D. vara, as well as others of this family, and several species of 
sparrows it was impossible to determine. No trace of a 
mammal was found either about the nest or in the pellets 
around it. 
Syrnium nebiilosum (Forst.J. BARRED OWL. 
Resident, but of irregular distribution. Like a^ number of 
other birds, both residents and migrants, this owl prefers such 
localities as have not undergone much change from the wild 
state. Where the woods have been too much cut away and the 
larger trees removed, it is no longer common. In the tracts 
that have not been disturbed, however, the barred owl is, per- 
haps, with the exception of Megascops, the commonest owl in 
Wisconsin. A common nesting species about Delavan, and 
northward in all suitable localities. We have never known 
this species to nest in other situations than the hollows of 
trees, with the exception of one nest placed on the top of a 
broken stub, only twelve feet high. In this case, however, it 
was reasonable to suspect that the nest had already been 
occupied before the tree had broken off. 
