LONG-EARED OWL 163 



barrow, attracted my attention. It seemed to come from a dense growth of 

 cedars in a hollow towards which I had taken only a few steps when the still air 

 was rent by a dozen or more piercing shrieks, given in quick succession, and all 

 alike save that each was a trifle less loud than the one immediately preceding it. 

 Altogether they lasted almost half a minute and suggested the screams of a 

 terror-stricken bird in the clutches of a Hawk, but were much louder and more 

 startling. They constituted a fitting prelude to the spectacular appearance, only 

 a second or two later, of their author, a large, female Long-eared Owl, who sud- 

 denly pitched down to the ground about thirty yards away and stood facing me 

 with ruffled plumage and glaring yellow eyes. Her widespread wings were so 

 held that the tips of the outermost primaries touched the carpet of pine needles 

 at her feet and those of the innermost secondaries met over her back, the other 

 quills radiating outward between them. Although, as I have said, she faced me, 

 the outer, not inner, surfaces of both wings were shown in my direction. Owing 

 to this singular disposition and inversion of all the flight-quills, they formed what 

 appeared to be a large, erect, circular fan of evenly-spread feathers completely 

 surrounding the head and body of the bird. Standing thus with threatening mien 

 and menacing, swaying movements of the head, she looked like some impish, 

 malformed creature half beside itself with rage. 



This startling pose, so well described by Mr. Brewster, is often seen 

 under various circumstances as a defense display. It is the pose 

 assumed by the bird that I surprised on its nest in Saskatchewan. 

 Major Bendire (1892) describes exactly the same pose that was as- 

 sumed in surprised self defense by one of these owls that he came upon 

 suddenly while it was killing a squirrel on the ground behind a log. 



On rare occasions this owl will actually attack an intruder at its 

 nest. Joseph Dixon had such an experience while trying to photo- 

 graph some young owls. Grinnell and Storer (1924) say of it: "The 

 owls usually gave little heed to the camera, save to glare at the lens 

 as though the reflection seen there were another and intruding owl. 

 One individual, thought to be a female, was more aggressive, and 

 several times attacked the photographer openly. She would wait 

 until Mr. Dixon put his head under the focussing cloth; then she 

 would swoop down and strike his head. At first the bird used only 

 her wings, but later, becoming emboldened, struck with her claws, 

 and once inflicted slight wounds in his scalp." 



Not the least interesting of the long-eared owl's tricks is its very 

 effective hiding pose, which A. D. DuBois describes very well in his 

 notes. He says: "I suddenly found myself gazing at a strange object 

 in front of me, some 20 or 25 yards away. Soon I realized that it 

 was an owl, standing upright and rigid, stretched vertically to its 

 utmost, its girth contracted to an incredible degree. It seemed much 

 more like a piece of broken tree branch than a living creature. It 

 appeared perfectly cylindrical, very long, and small (I should say 

 perhaps two and a half inches in diameter). Its 'horns' were erected 

 to their full extent, were perfectly vertical and parallel, and in this 

 position seemed very close together. This strange thing was entirely 



