AMERICAN BARN OWL 143 



voiced they throw themselves on their backs and strike out with both 

 feet." April 16: "Youngsters more active and aggressive than ever. 

 When placed on the ground they strike at each other, as well as at any 

 other object that comes within range, and at times they even assume 

 the offensive; running toward me with open beaks and upraised, 

 inverted wings." 



From that time on, the young became more pugnacious, until, on 

 April 27, he called the "actions of young positively unprintable"; and 

 on the 6th of May, he had to tie them down to keep them from flying 

 away. On May 27, the youngest bird left the nest. An interesting 

 discovery was that, when between six and seven weeks old, every one 

 of the birds began to lose weight, though before that they had exceeded 

 the average weight of adults. 



Messrs. Potter and Gillespie (1925) made several visits to the barn 

 owl's nest in the old tower, referred to above. On their second visit, 

 on May 13, 1924, the nest contained seven young, three days to two 

 weeks old. The youngest "was a pitiful, bedraggled and filthy little 

 fellow, having evidently been trampled on by the others. In size he 

 was little larger than a baby chick, and at times he uttered a faint, 

 tremulous whine. The rest were of assorted sizes, the largest about 

 the size of a Pigeon. Dark colored pin feathers were in evidence in 

 the wings of the two largest. * * * The cavity was inspected 

 and was found to be in an exceedingly filthy condition, — the floor 

 covered with a layer of casts powdered into a furry mass by the feet 

 of the young. Yet in such unsanitary surroundings the fledglings, 

 with the exception of the smallest, were clean, except their feet, which 

 were quite filthy." 



On June 9, "dusk was falling, but it was still light at eight p. m. 

 when one of the young ones made the initial call for food. This is a 

 rasping, sucking noise, and can readily be imitated by drawing in the 

 breath sharply through the corner of the mouth, keeping the teeth 

 closed. This is, no doubt, the 'snoring' call described by Dresser 

 (Knowlton, 'Birds of the World,' page 516). It might also be likened 

 to the sound made by an ill-mannered person eating soup! It actually 

 sounds as if the bird's mouth were watering in anticipation of food, 

 and it kept sucking back the saliva. The others soon joined in the 

 call, which by eight-fifteen was very insistent." 



At 9.00 p. m., "adult Owl drops on window-sill and then to floor as 

 before. We flash light on her. She stands at entrance to nest peering 

 down. Either a pine or a short-tailed field mouse hangs from her 

 bill by the back of its neck. She appears to be waiting for the young 

 to take the mouse, but they are raising a great racket under the floor, 

 apparently afraid of the light. The adult bird disappears into the 

 cavity, feeds the young and reappears. The light seems to daze her 

 as she looks toward us with black, blinking eyes. * * * Suddenly 



