. The book of birds, common birds of town and country and American game birds . land gull. Ex-tensive marshes bordering shallow lakes areits chosen breeding grounds, and as many suchareas are being reclaimed for agricultural pur-poses it behooves the tillers of the soil to pro-tect this valuable species. When undisturbedthis gull becomes quite fearless and followsthe plowman to gather the grubs and wormsfrom the newly turned furrows. It lives al-most exclusively upon insects, of which it con-sumes great quantities. Its hearty appetite ismanifest from the contents of a few stomachs:A, ,327 nymp
. The book of birds, common birds of town and country and American game birds . land gull. Ex-tensive marshes bordering shallow lakes areits chosen breeding grounds, and as many suchareas are being reclaimed for agricultural pur-poses it behooves the tillers of the soil to pro-tect this valuable species. When undisturbedthis gull becomes quite fearless and followsthe plowman to gather the grubs and wormsfrom the newly turned furrows. It lives al-most exclusively upon insects, of which it con-sumes great quantities. Its hearty appetite ismanifest from the contents of a few stomachs:A, ,327 nymphs of dragonflies; B, 340 grass-hoppers, 52 bugs, 3 beetles, 2 wasps, and i spi-der; C, 82 beetles, 87 bugs, 984 ants, and icricket, I grasshopper, and 2 spiders. Aboutfour-fifths of the total food is grasshoppers, astrong point in favor of this bird. Other in-jurious creatures eaten are billbugs, squashbugs, leaf-hoppers, click beetles (adults ofwireworms), May beetles (adults of whitegrubs), and weevils. Franklins gull is prob-ably the most beneficial bird of its group. 71. Screech OwlBarn Owl 72 SCREECH OWL (Otus asio) Length, about ? inches. Our smallest owlwith ear tufts. There are two distinct phasesof plumage—one grayish and the other brightrufous. Range: Resident throughout the UnitedStates, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. Habits and economic status: The littlescreech owl inhabits orchards, groves, andthickets, and hunts for its prey in such placesas well as along hedge-rows and in the warm spells in winter it forages quiteextensively and stores up in some hollow treeconsiderable quantities of food for use duringinclement weather. Such larders frequentlycontain enough mice or other prey to bridgeover a period of a week or more. With theexception of the burrowing owl. it is probablythe most insectivorous of the nocturnal birdsof prey. It feeds also upon small mammals,birds, reptiles, batrachians, fish, spiders, craw-fish, scorpions, and earthworms. Gr
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidcu319240, booksubjectbirds
