RED OWL. 59 



rated while dozing in the day. On moonlight evenings this 

 slender waihng is kept up nearly until midnight. 



Red Owl. — From the very satisfactory and careful observa- 

 tions of Dr. Ezra Michener, of New Garden, Chester County, 

 Pennsylvania, pubUshed in the eighth volume of the Journal of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, it appears 

 certain that the Red and Gray " Screech Owls " of the United 

 States are specifically distinct ; he has observed that the Red 

 Owls rear young of the same color, and that the Gray Owls 

 of the preceding species have also young which are gray and 

 mottled from the ver)' nest. Still different as they are in 

 plumage, the habits of the species are nearly alike. The 

 present inhabits and breeds in most parts of the United States. 

 In Pennsylvania they are hatched by the latter end of May, 

 breeding in hollow trees. The eggs are about four. 



I have had an opportunit) of verifying all that Wilson re- 

 lates of the manners of this species in a Red or young Owl, 

 taken out of a hollow apple-tree, which I kept for some 

 months. A dark closet was his favorite retreat during the 

 day. In the evening he became very lively and restless, glid- 

 ing across the room in which he was confined, with a side- 

 long, noiseless flight, as if wafted by the air alone. At times 

 he clung to the wainscot, and, unable to turn, he brought his 

 head round to his back, so as to present, by the aid of his 

 brilliant eyes, a most spectral and unearthly appearance. As 

 the eyes of all the Owls, according to Wilson, are fixed im- 

 movably in the socket by means of a many cleft capsular liga- 

 ment, this provision for the free versatile motion of the head 

 appears necessary. When approached towards evening, he 

 appeared strongly engaged in reconnoitring the object, blow- 

 ing with a hissing noise {shay, shay, shay), common to other 

 species, and stretching out his neck with a waving, lateral 

 motion, in a threatening attitude, and, on a nearer approach, 

 made a snapping with the bill, produced by striking together 

 both mandibles, as they are equally movable. He was a very 

 expert mouse-catcher, swallowed his prey whole, and then, 

 after some time, ejected from the bill the bones, skin, and 



