VOL. V. 
KANSAS CJTY, MO., JANUARY, 1891. 
NO. 1. 
For The K. C. Scientist : 
NOTES 0?^ THE OWES OF CHESTER 
COUNTY, PA. 
By Thomas IT. Jackson, West Ches- 
Ti:it. Pa. 
Jn theonsteni portion of Pennsylvania, 
and especially in Chester comity, to 
which most of my observations have 
been confined, the thickly settled con- 
dition of the country and the lack of 
large bodies of heavy limber make it a 
lather nnpromisin<r field for the study 
of the R iptores. Coupled with this, a law 
was in force for some two years in this 
state allowin;!^ a bounty of 50 cents per 
head tor all Hawks and Owls that were 
brought in, exempting the Sparrow 
Hawk (360) and Mottled Owl (373), on 
account of their recognized usefulness as 
destroyers of mice. As the avernge 
farmer's bov could only descriminate 
between these species after the bird was 
shot and offered for a bounty, thou- 
sands of them were slaughtered, along 
with their l;u-ger relatives, and as a 
consequence they, as well as the larger 
species are very scarce. Although the 
law was repealed at the instance of an 
earnest effort of a Scientific Society of 
our town, yet it will be years, perhaps 
generations, before some of the reside nt 
species h .V(^ regained Iheir foinu r 
al)undance. 
In trealing of the Strigidfe or Owl 
family, the list we have to deal with is 
not a long one but end)races some inter- 
esting birds. 
The Barn 0^^.365*. is an erj-atic i-esident 
of ea>:tern Pennsylvania. In thissection 
it is rarely seen, though our local tax- 
idermists have one or i\\ o bi-ought in 
each year and consider them vei y rare 
birds. Last season a paii- of tlirm wvve 
taken in the vicinity of a farm hous(; 
within a few miles of West Clii sler at a 
season of the year that made it probable 
they were breeding. They have been 
found nesting in ibeTinicum meado^^s. 
in Delaware county, using hollow trees 
in the manner of the Mottled Owl, 
Megascops asio. Here the supply of 
field mice is very abundant, as well as 
small birds and frogs. There is no 
authentic record of their eggs having 
been found in this county. 
The Long-eared Owl, 366, is a rare 
resident of this portion of Pennsylvania, 
although during the cold winters and 
especially toward the latter end of this 
season they become very abundant, 
frequenting the evergreen nurseries 
near our town in large flocks. They 
rarely venture out of there hiding places 
during the day, but at dusk and after 
