NORTHERN BARRED OWL 195 



supposed killer of game or poultry; many large owls are shot to be 

 mounted as ornaments, or as trophies of man's prowess. Next to man 

 crows seem to be the owls' bitterest enemies. I have often traced the 

 location of an owl by the clamor made by a band of noisy crows that 

 were pestering him. No sooner does a crow discover an owl than he 

 calls up all his friends and the fun begins. I have no evidence to show 

 that the crows ever inflict any serious injury on the owl, but they make 

 life miserable for him, darting at and about him and heaping upon 

 his innocent head all the vile epithets that crow profanity and insulting 

 language can produce. J. D. Carter (1925) gives the following 

 interesting account of this: 



No sooner was the bird on the wing than a party of Crows, idling in the neigh- 

 borhood, gave chase with all the choice expletives which are reserved for the big 

 Owls. When perched in the midst of a cawing mob, the Owl would duck its head 

 when one of the Crows made a dive at it, and would often counter by a thrust of 

 the beak. When the Crows were quiet enough, the snapping of the Owl's beak 

 could be plainly heard for 100 yards. The Owl did not make any visible attempt 

 to use its feet as weapons. On two occasions it dived into a big hollow beech 

 tree, leaving the watching mob outside. No doubt the Crows would have gone 

 away in time, but in both cases the Owl came out again before they had dispersed. 

 When perched in the open, the Owl's plan, if it had any, was to endure the pester- 

 ing and profanity until the Crows one by one lost interest and drifted away; then 

 by easy stages, approach, and finally disappear in the nest cavity. It did not 

 approach its nest so long as a single Crow appeared to be watching. There was 

 no loud talk near the nursery door. 



Though the barred owl is a gentle bird, as a rule, he has plenty of 

 courage and is no mean fighter when necessity requires it. In the 

 fight between a goshawk and a barred owl, referred to under the former 

 species, the owl was apparently the last to die, after putting up a good 

 fight. Mr. Bolles (1890) found that practically all small birds showed 

 great antipathy to his owls, teasing and annoying them whenever 

 they were left in the open. But he says: 



It was when a venerable and fiery-tempered Logcock caught sight of him on 

 August 21, that the full force of Woodpecker eloquence was let out. Puffy seemed 

 to recognize a hereditary foe, for before the Pileated came into my view the Owl 

 suddenly changed his appearance from rough-feathered and sleepy content to an 

 astonishing resemblance to an old moss-grown stump. He effected the transfor- 

 mation by standing up very straight, nearly closing his eyes, and making his 

 feathers lie absolutely sleek against his attenuated body. Once on another 

 occasion when he ran away from me, he climbed to the top of a small oak stump 

 and made himself look so like a continuation of it that I passed him four times 

 without detecting his presence. Not so the Pileated, for with a shrieking cackle, 

 his crest gleaming in the sunlight, he flew at the Owl so savagely that I expected 

 to see my pet slain on the spot. He only ruffled Puffy 's feathers, however, and 

 made the poor bird unhappy for some time by his discordant cries and frequent 

 flights and counter flights. 



Field marks. — The barred owl may be recognized easily; it is a large 

 gray owl, much grayer than the great horned owl and somewhat 



