_Otus asio asio. Case 1, Figs. 13, 14_
The two sexes are alike, the two color phases
being individual and representing dichromatism.
Among animals, gray and black squirrels furnish a
similar case. The ear-like feather-tufts give the
bird a cat-like appearance, hence the name 'Cat
Owl.' The young are downy-looking creatures evenly
barred with dusky. L. 9-1/2.
_Range._ Screech Owls are found throughout the
greater part of the Western Hemisphere. Our
eastern form occurs in the eastern United States
from Canada southward. The Florida race (_O. a.
floridanus_, Case 3, Fig. 19) is smaller and of a
darker gray than the northern bird. The 'red'
phase is rare.
Washington, common P.R. Ossining, common P.R.
Cambridge, common P.R. N. Ohio, common P.R. Glen
Ellyn, common P.R. SE. Minn., common P.R.
This, the smallest of our 'horned' Owls, is also the commonest. It lives
near and sometimes in our homes even when they are situated in towns.
Its tremulous, wailing whistle (in no sense a 'screech') is therefore
one of our most characteristic twilight bird-notes. Mice and insects
form the greater part of the Screech Owl's fare. Four to six white eggs
are laid in a hollow tree, bird-box, or similar site in April.