THE OOLOGISTJ 



87 



few feathers thrown promiscously to- 

 gether in a loose heap witltout auy at- 

 tempt at arrangenieut. Half buried la 

 this rude nest I found one large, glossy, 

 pure white egg, almost spherical in 

 shape, and measuring, perhaps one and 

 one third inches in diameter. 



Handling the egg of a song bird ruins 

 it as completely as breaking the shell, 

 and merely to touch the nests of some 

 ■birds would be quite as cruel as to des- 

 troy them, for most birds will never re- 

 turn to a nest which has been molested. 

 My little Owl, however, was not so fas- 

 tidious and when I put her back in the 

 hollow she settled down with a quiet 

 chuckle, terribly afraid of me, no doubt, 

 but still moi'e afraid of the bright sun- 

 shine. 



After that I visited the little Owl 

 whenever I passed near her ti-ee, and 

 although I am sure she would rather 

 have been let alone, she never took any 

 serious offense at my visits, and proba- 

 bly never thought of deserting her nest 

 on my account. Sometimes I found 

 her alone, and sometimes her mate was 

 with her. One evening just as the gray 

 of twilight was making objects indis- 

 tinct but not invisible I was passing 

 near the old apple tree without intend- 

 ing to .stop, when a weird, doleful scream 

 startled me and made me hastily look 

 around. It was the respectable head of 

 the Owl family just emerging from his 

 door to begin his nightly hunt for mice 

 and sparrows.and he was exercising the 

 l)eculiar vocal power.s which have gained 

 him the common name of Screech Owl. 



Perched just outside his doorway he 

 was a sight to behold, puffed up to more 

 than twice his natural size, every feath- 

 er standing on end, his glaring goggle 

 eyes dilated, he seemed, in the uncer- 

 tain light to be almost as large as a tur- 

 key. Again he Ijcgaii that strange, wild 

 scream, but io the middle of iiis cry he 

 caught sight of me, and instantly the 

 piercing "screech" was broken off and 

 (lied away in a gurgling cluck. Drop- 



ping his feathers and drawing himself 

 down very small the apparently huge 

 monster of a moment before became 

 quite a little bird and reti'eated back- 

 wards into his hole, a ridiculously sud- 

 den change from ostentatious greatness 

 to a humble wish to escape observation. 



When the mother Owl had completed 

 her set of four eggs she brooded upon 

 them and hatched and reared a hue 

 family of Owlets, disturbed, though not 

 seriously distressed by my visits, and 

 duly appreciative of occasional small 

 presents of scrap meat. 



I once knew some boys who kept a 

 Screech Owl in a cage. Their father 

 sometimes poisoned rabbits with sti'ych- 

 nine to keeping them from nibbling his 

 young apple trees, and the boys would 

 bring in the dead bunnies and feed them 

 to the Owl. The bird would eat both 

 flesh and fur in his peculiar. Owlish way, 

 and, strange to say, was never injured 

 by the jjoison. 



The night cries of the Screech Owls, 

 which I always listen to with delight, 

 are very disagreeable to some people, 

 yet no one ever harms the birds, for it 

 is well known that they subsist mainly 

 on mice and rats, yet there is another 

 Owl which is heartily hated by most of 

 hisWquaintances.This is the Great Horn- 

 ed Owl, or Cat Owl, a large bird which 

 is often called th§ Hoot Owl from its 

 peculiar crj'. This cry, very different 

 from that of the little mottled Screech 

 Owl. is not really "hoot!" but sounds 

 more like "who-o-o-ol" 



Tliese large Owls not only destroy a 

 great many Quails and wild Pigeons 

 but are said to make frequent raids on 

 badly closed hen-houses, and to show 

 no mercy to the poultry which roosts in 

 the trees near farm houses. It is prob- 

 able that they dcseiwe tlieir evil reput- 

 ation, and I regret to say that I have 

 found them guilty of still anotlier crime. 



Rambling along the side of a woo(k^(l 

 hill on th«! lirst of March I cauglit sight 

 of a large rude nest near the top of a 



