THE OOLOGIST. 



21 



The Barred Owl. (Syrnium neb- 

 ulosum.) 



tins is one of our most common Owls, 

 aud more frequently than any other 

 "^ is seen late in the tall or in winter, | 

 especially near the borders of creeks or riv- 

 ers, or near swamps bordered by woods. 

 In summer it is generally found in dense 

 forests, tiying about from place to place 

 during the entire day, seeming not to be a 

 nocturnal bird, but to see better in the day- 

 time than any other Owl. It is by no 

 means a shy bird, but will often, at night, 

 come close to a lonely camp-fire, exposing 

 itself to the glare of the fire, without show- 

 ing the slightest token of alarm. It will 

 turn its unusually thick head toward you, 

 and scrutinize you with its large black eyes. 

 In Louisiana these Owls seem to be the 

 most abundant, and in passing through the 

 dense woods, the traveler may often count 

 six or eight in the distance of a few miles, 

 and at the approach of night, their ciies 

 can be heard from evei-y patch of woods 

 near the plantations. In dark and cknidy 

 days, indicating an approaching rain-storm, 

 their cries are multiplied during the day, 

 and are louder than usual. On the coming 

 of a storm, they respond to each other in 

 such unearthly and strange tones, that one 

 can not help thinking that something extra- 

 ordinary is taking place among them. Their 

 motions and gestic\dations are, on sucli oc- 

 casions, stranger and more lively than us- 

 ual. On approaching the bird, it at once 

 changes its perpendicular position to a hor- 

 izontal one, throwing the lateral feathers 

 of the head forward, so as to make it ap- 

 pear as if surrounded by a broad rufT, mov- 

 ing it round, backward and forward so 

 quickly as to cause it to look as if it were 

 dislocated from the body. All motions of 

 the intruder are looked at with eyes that 

 seem as if they were half-blind, and with a 

 suspicion of treacherous intentions. The 

 bird flies off' to a short distance, alighting 

 with its back toward the intruder, but im- 

 mediately turns to begin its scrutiny anew. 



If you do not shoot at it, you may follow 

 it in this way for a long distance ; but if 

 shot at and not wounded, it will fly off to 

 sui;h a distance that you will lose sight of 

 it, though you may hear its pompously ut- 

 tered " wha, wha, wha," from time to 

 time. 



The" flight of this Owl is light, smooth, 

 and perfectly noiseless, so much so that 

 not the slightest rustling of the wings can 

 be heard, even if it flies only a couple of 

 yards above your head. If the occasion 

 requires it, their flight can be greatly pro- 

 tracted, as they have been noticed to fly on 

 one stretch a distance of over two miles. 

 The writer has noticed the Barred Owl sev- 

 eral times in the day-time sailing about in 

 the air in small circles, in a manner simi- 

 lar to the Hawk, rising to a great height 

 and then flying off to a distance, in an ir- 

 regular zigzag line, while briskly flapping 

 its wings. He also several times found the 

 nest of that Owl containing eggs, the num- 

 ber of which, when the bird was sitting, 

 was invariably three. These were of the 

 size of a hen's egg, but more globular, and 

 had a coarse rough shell of a pure white 

 color. 



All the nests found were snugly built in 

 the fork of some large tree, and among its 

 thi(;k foliage. The nest was, however, 

 rudely constructed, being composed out- 

 wardly of sticks, interspersed with dry 

 grass and dry leaves, and lined with small 

 twigs, fibrous roots, and a few feathers. 

 The food of these bii'ds consists chiefly of 

 mice, moles, frogs, lizards, snakes, and 

 sometimes fish. The young birds have 

 been often taken frcnn the nest and placed 

 I in a room with the window open, and, in 

 all such instances, the young ones have been 

 found by their parents the very first night, 

 I although the distance of the room was, in 

 ; one case, over two miles from the nest. 

 The parent birds bi-ought plenty of food to 

 their young, so that almost every morning, 

 a great many frogs, mice, etc., had to be 

 thrown out. Only once, in all these exper- 

 iments, did the old birds bring a partridge ; 

 but this, on close inspection, was found to 



