. The common hawks and owls of California from the standpoint of the rancher . as there any indication ofthese owls feeding on other birds, that being a small bunch of quailfeathers at the base of the cliff. If birds or poultry had been takento any considerable extent, some feathers would certainly have beenfound about the nest. Notebook records of over 50 nests of hornedowls examined, containing eggs or young, fail to show any trace ofpoultry having been taken. The writer therefore believes that the Circular 236 COMMON HAWKS AND OWLS OF CALIFORNIA 11 poultry-stealing proclivities of this owl,
. The common hawks and owls of California from the standpoint of the rancher . as there any indication ofthese owls feeding on other birds, that being a small bunch of quailfeathers at the base of the cliff. If birds or poultry had been takento any considerable extent, some feathers would certainly have beenfound about the nest. Notebook records of over 50 nests of hornedowls examined, containing eggs or young, fail to show any trace ofpoultry having been taken. The writer therefore believes that the Circular 236 COMMON HAWKS AND OWLS OF CALIFORNIA 11 poultry-stealing proclivities of this owl, in California, have beengrossly over-estimated, to say the least. The horned owl is an im-portant rodent destroyer in California and should be given legal pro-tection instead of being classed as an outlaw. The long-eared owl has a length of from 13 to 16 inches. As indi-cated by its name, the ear tufts in this species are very well developedand this feature, together with the medium size of the bird, affordsthe best field identification mark. Although this owl may be found. Fig. 7.—The horned owl is one of the best rodent destroyers in California. Thisis evidenced by the remains of a wood rat in the nest behind the two white downyyoung. in suitable localities over most of the state, it is a species rarely seenduring daylight hours, for it spends the day hidden away in thedensest cover that it can find. Like the horned owl, the presentspecies preempts the nests of other birds or animals and rarely if everbuilds a nest for itself. In southern California the long-eared owlcommonly nests on top of old wood rat nests, which in that region areoften built in oak trees from 10 to 30 feet above the ground. Nestsof crows and magpies are also appropriated by these owls (see fig. 8).At Mono Lake in May, 1916, the writer found six pairs of long-earedowls all nesting in magpie nests. The owls nested earlier than themagpies and apparently had first choice of the old nests available, 12 UNI
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