222 ORDERS OF BIRDS— BIRDS OF PREY 
owl; but of course the black markings are not 
the same. 
This Owl exhibits a peculiarity in color which 
must be specially noted. It has two distinct 
and widely different colors, red and gray. In 
the same locality will be found owls that are of 
a cold, black-and-white gray color, and others 
that are pale, rusty red, with white mottlings 
on the abdomen. For this very odd develop- 
ment, we are quite unable to account; and such 
Sanborn, Photo., N. Y. Zoological Park. 
YOUNG SCREECH-OWLS. 
lawless color-variations are called “phases,” pos- 
sibly because they phase the naturalists who try 
to study out their whys and wherefores. 
In its food habits, the Screech-Owl prefers, 
if it can procure them, mice, grasshoppers, lo- 
custs, cut worms, beetles, caterpillars, crickets, 
spiders, lizards, frogs and crawfish. If these 
are lacking, it attacks the English sparrow and 
almost any other small bird that comes handy, 
usually other sparrows. To show that when 
very hungry all birds look alike to him, he oc- 
casionally kills and eats a bird of his own 
species! Dr. A. K. Fisher’s ever useful and 
scholarly report on the “Hawks and Owls 
of the United States” sets forth in full detail 
tne results of the examination of 255 stomachs 
of Screech-Owls, of which the following is a 
summary of contents: 100, insects; 91, mice; 
12, English sparrows; 26, other birds; 11, miscel- 
laneous mammals; 9, crawfish; 7, miscellaneous 
food; 5, spiders; 5, frogs; 2, lizards; 2, scorpions; 
2, earth-worms; 1, poultry; 1, fish, and 43 were 
empty. The following is a full list of the birds 
found: 12 English sparrows, 9 other sparrows, 
3 juncos, 2 Screech-Owls, 1 shore-lark, 1 water 
thrush and 15 unrecognized. 
Leaving out the two Screech-Owls, of the birds 
that were identified, the English sparrows formed 
practically one-half. ■ On tills basis we will 
allow that of the unrecognized birds, seven were 
song-birds. Add these to the fifteen recog- 
nized-song birds and we have a total of twenty- 
one song-birds out of two hundred and fifty-five 
stomachs examined. 
The question is, what shall be the fate of the 
Screech-Owl. — -encouragement, toleration, or 
limitation? To me it seems that the number of 
Screech-Owls should be limited, for the benefit of 
the song-birds; but I do not believe in their ex- 
termination. 
The Great Horned Owl 1 is, by necessity, an 
aerial pirate and highway robber — the tiger 
of the air. Its temper is fierce and intractable, 
and if you attempt to make friends with one 
in captivity, it will hiss like a snake, snap its 
beak like an angry peccary, and dare you to 
come on. Of all the birds I know, there is no 
other so persistently savage in captivity as this 
bloody-minded game-killer. Of course, the Owl 
is not to blame for the raw-meat appetite which 
Nature gave him, and for which he feels bound 
to provide; but there is no reason why he should 
have a temper like a black leopard toward those 
who feed him. 
“Of all the birds of prey, with the exception 
possibly of the goshawk and Cooper’s hawk,” 
says Dr. A. K. Fisher, “the Great Horned Owl 
is the most destructive to poultry. All kinds 
of poultry seem to be taken, though when Guinea- 
fowls and turkeys are obtainable, it shows a 
preference for these. In sections of the country 
where it is common, the inhabitants complain 
bitterly of its ravages.” In the museum of the 
Pliiladelphia Academy is an Owl which carried 
off from one farm twenty-seven individuals of 
various kinds of poultry before it was shot. 
1 Bu'bo virginianus. Length, from 20 to 24 inches. 
