148 OUR WINTER BIRDS 



little mammals, and of some others so rare that no 

 naturalist had ever seen them in the vicinity, were 

 found In two hundred pellets gathered in the tower 

 of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, where 

 a pair of Barn Owls, a southern species, had made 

 their home. 



Even if Owls see as well by night as Hawks do 

 by day, their success in capturing these dull-colored 

 little animals among the tangle of grass and shelter 

 of leaves in which they live is remarkable. I have 

 an idea that, like the hunter waiting for his game 

 to appear on some traveled "runway," Owls may 

 watch over open places for the coming of mice and 

 shrews. Several times, when motoring at night, the 

 light of the automobile has fallen on Owls in the 

 road ahead where they had apparently either just 

 captured their prey, or were waiting for a victim 

 to cross the road. 



Both the Hawk Owl and the Snowy Owl are such 

 rare visitors to the United States that we may pos- 

 sibly never see either of them. But the Great 

 Horned, Barred, Long-eared, Short-eared and 

 Screech Owls are with us throughout the year, and 

 the Acadian sometimes wanders southward from the 

 northern border of the United States in winter. 



The Screech Owl, although a wood Owl, shows so 

 marked a fondness for the haunts of man that we 



