164 
THE WILSON BULLETIN— September, 1922 
Sicilia sialis — Bluebird. 
Common permanent resident. Nests throughout section. 
The migration notes in the foregoing list are based on a 
tabulation covering a period of sixteen years and the general 
aeverages are shown in each case. 
SOME IOWA OWL NOTES 
BY FRED J. PIERCE, WINTHROP, IOWA 
The Screech Owl is the commonest representative of the Owl 
family in this region, and is undoubtedly of extreme value to 
the farmer as a pest destroyer. He is seldom seen in the hours 
of the day, but at night makes his presence known by his waver- 
ing, mournful cry, which is pleasing music to the ear of a pro- 
fessed lover of nature. Why anyone should think this weird 
and gri])ping voice from the night disagreeable is hard to un- 
derstand, yet many peoj)le do. Ketiring in habit, this bird 
seems to have few objectionable qualities, and is, therefore, a 
neighbor to be encouraged, rather than one to be shunned. 
Some time ago I described the etfective work done by a 
Screech Owl in ridding our farm buildings of English Sparrows 
during the winter of 1919-20.* During the past winter (1921- 
22) similar work was done by an industrious and not too timid 
Owl — perhaps the previous visitant. 
This Screech Owl was first seen in the large mow of our 
barn, after a severe snowstorm in mid-December, and it visited 
it frequently thereafter. The Sparrows’ numerous roos ting- 
places in the haymow and nearby silo chute vcere no longer safe 
and, judging from the small size of our English Sparrow flock, 
the Owl’s appetite for Sparrows was a very hearty one. 
For several years the ladder rungs inside the silo chute have 
been a preferred reposing quarter of the Sparrows. When not 
molested a hundred or so would congregate there to spend the 
night. My father and I have often gone there after dark and 
killed numbers of them by climbing the steps and knocking 
them over with a club, while a lantern was held below to be- 
wilder them with the light. It was fairly easy to dispatch the 
birds with a well directed blow. In former winters we have 
used these means to keep the Sparrow flock reduced, but the 
past winter the Screech Owl included the chute in his list of 
hunting grounds and the Sparrows were left little cover. A 
* The Screech Owl as a Sparrow trap. Bird-Lore, Nov.-Dee. 1920, 
p. 350. 
