Disabled Birds 



193 



thigh was broken when the tree fell. This bird was the most magnificent 

 Barred Owl imaginable. His feathers were in perfect condition. For years 

 we had known a of pair of Owls in this wood, so I believe, since we no longer 

 hear them, that the bird was one of them, and was therefore of considerable 

 age. As with the Crow, we tried to help him but without better success. We 

 placed sterile gauze over the wound and enclosed the whole in a plaster of 

 Paris splint; since there was no overriding of the broken bones, traction was 

 not required. 



Our Owl occasionally presented a strange appearance, when we found him 

 sitting quietly on the edge of the bureau, his back turned on us and his face 

 looking directly at us. He ate meat and drank and out of a spoon at the first 



AN ADAPTED BUCK'S EXTENSION 



opportunity. At no time did he offer to bite us, and he hardly ever seemed 

 frightened. From increasing experience with Barred Owls I am coming to 

 believe that they are all very gentle birds. He lived in a room with the win- 

 dows open, and for several nights he called to his mate who was down in the 

 woods. The Hoo! Hoo! was really a terrific sound when heard so close at hand. 

 This bird li\ed ten days and we heard the mate calUng for many nights after 

 this, but in vain — no answer now resounded from the box on the floor. 



In the foUow^ing spring, one noon, as we were eating our lunch in the 

 woods near the Hackensack, there was a male Scarlet Tanager moving about 

 in the bushes. To our amazement we were able to walk right up to the bird 

 and one of us picked him up. He made but a feeble struggle and was quiet. 

 We found that there was a deep wound in the base of the neck in front and 

 also one on the top of the head. When an angleworm was held out to him, he 

 ate without hesitation, and when we held him up to an insect on a tree he 



