62 
STRIGIDiE. 
White Owl probably lives chiefly upon mice, but is known 
also to destroy small birds. 
The long-eared owl will destroy birds as large as the 
blackbird ; how, then, can we account for the immunity 
of the starling ? 
From what information we have on the subject, it ap¬ 
pears that the different species of owls, and sometimes 
the same species, evince very great irregularity in their 
time of breeding, the date varying from the laying of the 
first egg on the 10th of March by the eagle owl, to the 
production of the young of the snowy and short-eared 
owls in the month of August. 
