BIRD STORIES 



were brought up was an entire success from an owlish 

 point of view, I don^t know what could. 



Take them altogether, perhaps you could not find a 

 much more interesting family than the little Otuses. As 

 to size and shape, they were as much alike as five peaB in 

 a pod; but for all that, they looked so different that it 

 hardly seemed possible that they could be own brothers 

 and sisters. For one of the sons of Solomon and two of 

 his daughters had gray complexions, while the other son 

 and daughter were reddish brown. Now Solomon and 

 Mrs. Otus were both gra}^, except, of course, what white 

 feathers and black streaks were mixed up in their mot- 

 tlings and dapples ; so it seems strange enough to see 

 two of their children distinctly reddish. But, then, one 

 never can tell just what color an owl of this sort will be, 

 anyway. Solomon himself, though gray, was the son of 

 a reddish father and a gray mother, and he had one gray 

 brother and two reddish sisters: while Mrs. Otus, who 

 had but one brother and one sister, was the only gray 

 member of her family. Young or old, summer or winter, 

 Solomon and Mrs. Otus were gra}^, though, young or 

 old, summer or winter, their fathers had both been of a 

 reddish complexion. 



Now this sort of variation in color you can readily see 

 is altogether a different matter from the way Father 

 Goldfinch changes his feathers every October for a win- 



172 



