OWLS 



103 



ear openings arc much larger, in fact almost 

 cavernous in their proportions. This remark- 

 able development is due to the bird's dependence 

 upon its sense of hearing. For in the long grass 

 the movements of much of its prey cannot be 

 seen, and must therefore be heard; and close 

 observation of the Owl will show that much of 

 its hunting is done with its ears rather than eyes. 

 Of the economic value of this Owl, Dr. A. K. 

 Fisher reports : " Fully 75 per cent, of its food 

 consists of mice; as many as six of these mam- 

 mals have been foimd in one stomach. In the 

 West it proI)al)ly feeds also on the small ground 

 squirrels. .Among birds, the Sparrows inhabit- 

 ing the meadows and prairies are most often 

 taken. In an interesting article by Peter .Adair, 



in the ' .Annals ' of Scottish Natural History for 

 October, 1H93, on the disappearance of the short- 

 tailed vole that caused the vole i)lague in Scot- 

 land in 1890-1892, the statement is made that 

 farmers and shepherds attribute its disappear- 

 ance largely to its natural enemies, stress being 

 laid on the services of the Owl, Kestrel, Rook, 

 and Black-headed Cull among birds and the stoat 

 and weasel among mammals. These men are also 

 of the opinion that this vole ])laguc resulted from 

 the destruction of birds of i)rey. When the 

 plague first began the Short-eared Owl was 

 hardly known in the district, but. swarming 

 thither, it bred till it was so numerous that it be- 

 came an important factor in reducing the num- 

 ber of voles." 



BARRED OWL 

 Strix varia varia Barton 



.\. O. U. Xumber 368 See Color I'latc 54 



Other Names.— Hoot Owl ; Rain Owl ; Wood Owl ; 

 Rmnul-lK-ailc(l Owl: Swamp Owl. 



General Description. — Length. JO inches; spread of 

 wiii.t;^. 44 inclics. Plumage, brown, barred with whitish. 

 No car-tufts or liorns. 



Color. — Adults: Fore and nppcr jiarts. broadly and 

 rcfiularly barred zcilli pale buff and deep brown, the 

 latter color always terminal, the brown bars rather 

 broader than the paler ones on upper parts, but on the 

 neck and chest rather narrower : breast also barred with 

 brown and whitish, but the brown bars connected by a 

 center streak, thus separating the whitish into pairs of 

 spots on opposite webs; each feather of atxlomen, sides, 

 and flanks with a broad center longitudinal stripe of 

 darker brown, the under tail-coverts with similar but 

 rather narrower stripes ; anal region immaculate buffy or 

 buffy-white ; legs with numerous but rather faint trans- 

 verse spots or bars of brown ; general color of wings 

 and tail, brown ; middle and greater coverts with 

 roundish transverse spots of white on outer webs, the 

 lesser coverts, plain deep brown ; secondaries, crossed 

 by about six bands of pale grayish-brov/n passing into 

 paler on edges, the terminal band passing into whitish 

 on margin; primary coverts with four bands of darker 

 buflfy-brown or ochraceous-brown ; primaries with 

 transverse series of square spots of pale brown on 

 outer webs (growing deeper brown on inner quills), 

 the last terminal (there are about eight spots on longest 

 primary) ; tail, crossed by six or seven sharply defined 

 bands of pale brown, the last terminal ; face, grayish- 

 white or pale brownish-gray, with concentric semi- 



circular bars of brown; "eyebrows" and lores, dull 

 grayish-white with black shafts; a narrow crescent of 

 black against front angle of eye; facial circle a mix- 

 ture of blackish-brown and buffy-white bars, the former 

 predominating across foreneck where the brown forms 

 disconnected transverse spots; bill, dull I'uff-yellowish: 

 iris, very dark brnivn or brozvnish-blaek. the pupil 

 appearing blue by contrast; naked portion of toes, dull 

 yellowish or yellowish-gray, the large scales, more 

 decidedly yellow, the soles, deep yellow ; claws, dark 

 horn color, becoming blackish terminally. Young : 

 Head, neck, and entire under parts broadly barred with 

 rather light brown and pale huffy and whitish, the 

 brown and pale bars about equal in width ; back, 

 scapulars, and wing-coverts similarly barred but the 

 bars broader, the brown ones of a deeper shape, and 

 each feather broadly tipped with white; wing- and 

 tail-feathers (if developed) as in adults. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Almost always in a hollow 

 tree, on the old chips, but sometimes in a deserted 

 Crow's or Hawk's nest. Eggs : 2 to 4, usually 3, 

 white, unspotted. 



Distribution. — Middle eastern North .America ; breeds 

 north to Newfoundland, southern Quebec, northern 

 Ontario, southern Keewatin, Manitoba, and Saskatche- 

 wan ; west to eastern Montana, eastern Wyoming, and 

 eastern Colorado; south to Virginia, western North 

 Carolina, northwestern South Carolina, northern 

 Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Illinois, Mis- 

 souri, and northern Arkansas, and occasionally to 

 Louisiana. 



The Barred Owl is a bird of the deep soli- 

 tudes. Where in the low grounds along the 

 rivers or on lake-shores nature has built her 

 densest growth of forest trees, or where, in for- 



bidding swam])s, trees and vines struggle for the 

 mastery in one interminable jumble, there you 

 will find the Barred Owl and his mate. If it be 

 in the spring von mav hear his big voice booming 



