of the nocturnal kind ; and, as an additional reason, their great unpopularity 

 amongf the other birds leads them to seek the shelter of the nesting hole. 



One would think that when a bird discovers an owl hiding in the thick 

 branches of a tree, he would go off and let him alone, but not so. The bird at 

 once gives the alarm, the birds gather from the neighborhood, especially the 

 jays, like boys at the call of a fight. They scold, and call police! police! They 

 fly at the unfortunate owl and snap their bills in his face until he is very uncom- 

 fortable. Finally he tumbles clumsily out of the besieged tree, flies away, and 

 tumbles into another tree. Here the performance is very likely to be repeated. 

 No wonder then that our little owl remains cozily hidden in the hollow tree 

 sleeping away the daylight hours. 



But when the day begins to wane, he knows that his time has come. On 

 noiseless wings, drops upon its prey, clutches it with sharp talons and tears it 

 with his beak. The prey is swallowed hair, bones, and all. Several hours after 

 the meal the indigestible parts are thrown up in the form of pellets. It is largely 

 by a study of these pellets that we learn the character of the owl's food. With 

 the exception of the great horned owl, which is the worst bird enemy of the 

 poultry yard and of wild game birds, the owls are good birds and are worthy 

 of careful protection. Rats, mice, chipmunks, gophers, skunks, rabbits, and 

 other small rodents, fish, insects, and occasionally other birds form the bill of 

 fare. Our little red owl is especially fond of mice and will even attack a large 

 rat. In the summer time he eats large numbers of injurious insects. Reports 

 from various obsei-vers show that, in our cities and towns, the screech owl has 

 made the acquaintance of the English sparrow, greatly to the sorrow of the 

 sparrow. 



Like the jays and some of the woodpeckers, the owls, in a time of plenty, 

 lay up stores for the future. In their nests, especially in winter and during 

 the nesting season, may be found the bodies of mice and other small animals. 



The following slalenient is quoted from Forest and StrcLDii by Major 

 Bendire. 



In a nest of the great horned owl containing two young owls, were found 

 the following animals : "a mouse, a young muskrat. two eels, four bullheads, a 

 woodcock, four ruffed grouse, one rabbit, and eleven rats. The food taken out 

 of the nest weighed almost 18 pounds. A curious fact connected with these cap- 

 tives was that the heads were eaten off, the bodies being untouched." 



83 



