AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



35 



daytime unless disturbed from its resting place either by human beings 

 or crows, the latter detesting the sight of any member of the Owl 

 family. 



Photo by N. W. Swayne. 

 YOUNG BARN OWLS. 



The young have noiv assumed attitudes common to the adults, their hoods are 

 well developed and the wings fully feathered, but the bodies are still covered with 

 soft white down. 



They are found most abundantly in low meadows and marshy ground 

 where, soon after the sun has sunk behind the hills, they commence 

 their hunting. The appetite of all Owls is something astonishing, but 

 that of the Barn Owl is almost beyond belief. Only a few days ago a 

 friend brought me a Screech Owl which he had caught the week before 

 and kept in the stable. He said it had seemed perfectly well when caught 

 and he had fed it a mouse every day and he could not understand why 

 it did not live. The reason was very apparent for it was nothing but 

 a skeleton and had died of starvation. Instead of a single mouse a 

 day it should certainly have had a dozen and in its wild state probably 

 it devoured more than that number in every twenty four hours. A 



