1042 



Rural School Leaflet. 



His feathers ruffed up, his 

 eyes big and round, he was 

 the picture of alertness 



ruffed up, his eyes big and round, he was the very picture of alertness. 



Very different did he appear when we occasionally saw him in the day- 

 time with his fedthers drawn close, his ear tufts erect and his eyes 



shut. Indeed, he then resembled more an 

 inanimate piece of bark than a real live bird. 

 Most of his days he spent in the hollow 

 limb of an apple tree out in the orchard, 

 where the numerous pellets of hair and 

 bones scattered over the ground told us of 

 the many mice he was destroying. 



There are eight or nine different kinds of 

 owls in New York State but the Screech 

 Owl is the only one that is at all common 

 and that you are likely to find near the 

 house. It can easily be distinguished from 

 all of the other owls by its small size and 

 the presence of conspicuous tufts of feathers 

 on its head, called ear tufts. The only other 

 owl in New York State which is as small as 



the Screech Owl is the Saw- whet or Acadian Owl, and this lacks ear 



tufts. Any owl, then, that you find which is as small as a pigeon and 



has ear tufts is a Screech Owl. 



The Screech Owls do not always migrate 



in the fall as do most birds, but often pass 



the entire winter near the place of their birth. 



In the daytime, we can generally find them 



in some thick evergreen tree or more often 



in a hole in a tree. During the winter, they 



frequently come into our barns or even into 



crevices in our houses where their voracious 



little talons prove efficient mouse-traps. 



About the first of April, they select suitable 



places for their nests in old woodpecker holes 



or in hollow limbs in the orchard. There 



they lay their white eggs on the chips in the 



bottom of the hole without much pretense 



at a nest except a few feathers. 



When the eggs have hatched and there 



are five or six hungry mouths to fill, the little Screech Owl often finds 



it difficult to capture enough mice, and then it is that it spoils its 



otherwise good reputation by catching small birds. The number of 



In the daytime, he resembled 

 more an inanimate piece 

 of bark 



