12 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 86 



thing: a perfectly healthy, adult "Saw-whet," in elegant 

 winter plumage. 



There are but very few even passable pictures of this owl 

 extant and a good many very poor ones. Many years ago I 

 saw one, painted life-size in water-color by John Woodhouse 

 Audubon, the erratic son of the well-known Franco-American 

 ornithologist. Without exception I think it was the worst 

 picture of an owl that I recall having ever seen. It reminded 

 me of the labored drawing of a bird's nest by a little fellow 

 seven years old, who, when he had finished his sketch, showed 

 it to his father with no small degree of pride. "What is it 

 intended to represent, my son?" said the father, after gazing 

 at it for a moment or so with a puzzled expression. ' ' A bird 's 

 nest," explained the young hopeful. "Oh," said his parent, 

 "it looked to me like a pretty good attempt to draw a 

 cyclone. ' ' 



On this occasion I will not state exactly how many dry 

 plates I expended on this little representative of the 

 Strigidce; but it was a number over a box of five by eights 

 and two eight by tens. I don't regret it though, for I did 

 get some pictures after the first few attempts, and some good 

 ones. One of these last is reproduced here (Fig. 3). 



In studying him, I noticed that, Avhen his eyes were closed, 

 the feathering below them became very prominent, bulging 

 outward and downward like two tufts — one beneath either 

 eye. This was especially the case when he started to doze off 

 to sleep, and it is a character in the plumage of this owl that 

 I have never seen described. Thus far, he has refused to 

 drink any water, and will not eat raw beef placed as little 

 bits in his cage at night. So I have kept him alive by feed- 

 ing him with the same, putting the pieces, one at a time, into 

 his mouth with a pair of spring forceps. After swallowing 

 two or three pieces, he became very lively during the course 

 of the following ten minutes. I believe he would relish a 

 sparrow, but I have not as yet secured one in that I might 

 make the trial. As a matter of fact, I do not believe he will 

 live very long in confinement ; but should he succumb, there 

 is another skeleton coming to my collection. 



