. Diseases and enemies of poultry . usually lead a solitarylife or associate in pairs, we find the subject of thissketch to be social and gregarious, associating oftenin i>arties of from twelve to twenty-five winter if not molested they frequently take up aresidence in the dark retreats furnished by the numeroils coniferous trees growing around tlie habitationsof man. DESIRABLE VISITORS. In relation to a party of tliese o\\]s l)i-. Win. , Lahaska, Pa., says: For over twenty years I have had congregated in my lawnfrom fifty to seventy-five owls. They are peaceable and
. Diseases and enemies of poultry . usually lead a solitarylife or associate in pairs, we find the subject of thissketch to be social and gregarious, associating oftenin i>arties of from twelve to twenty-five winter if not molested they frequently take up aresidence in the dark retreats furnished by the numeroils coniferous trees growing around tlie habitationsof man. DESIRABLE VISITORS. In relation to a party of tliese o\\]s l)i-. Win. , Lahaska, Pa., says: For over twenty years I have had congregated in my lawnfrom fifty to seventy-five owls. They are peaceable and quiet;only on raie occasions would you know one was about, oiidull days and foggy evenings tho.\- weie flying about in all di-rections. Xo\er in all that time ha\c I missed any poultryor ha\e they inflicted any injury on anything of value. Thefirst I noticed of their presence was the discovery of quite apile of what appeared t(-> be mice hair and bones, and on Inves-tlgatiun found the Norway fir was the loosiing place of to in^. AMERICAN LONG EARED OWL 231 at that time a vast luiinbei of owls. They had ejected thebolus of hair and bones apparently of an army of tree-eatingdestructive mice, aiding the fruit grower against one of theworst and most inveterate enemies. * * * Their meritswould fill sheets; the demerits nil. THE NEST AND EGGS. Although it is true tliat Loug-eared owls at times doronstiuct their own nests, I am inclined to believe thatthese birds, in this region at least, prefer to occupythe deserted nests oi other birds. I have on severaloccasions found these owls breeding and always ob-served that they occupied the abandoned nest* ofcrows or hawks. Audubon says: The Long-eareil Owl is careless as to the situation in whichits young are to be reared, and generally accommodates itselfWith the abandoned nest of some other bird that proves ofsufficient size, whether it be high or low, in the fissure of arock or on the ground. Sometimes, however, it makes a nestitself
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectmam
