182 THE Birps Axsout US. 
May it not be that they are really more plentiful than 
we suppose, especially in pine woods or dense cedar 
swamps ?P 
The Screech-owl, or Red Owl, or Little Gray Owl, 
may be said to be semi-domesticated, and it is about 
the only one that comes to town and makes its home 
in the larger shade-trees, or the spire of some church 
that is without a bell. In the country a hole in some 
apple-tree, or a large cavity that was once a clean-cut 
woodpecker’s nest, is the bird’s usual home, and 
here it remains until dusk, when it comes out click- 
ing its bill with a snap like the cocking of a pistol, and 
then looking about, mutters the melancholy /-z/oo- 
hoo-ho-ho-ho, the ending of it a most doleful quaver. 
As to its food, mice of course largely supply that, 
but this owl has a fancy, too, for squabs, and can 
clean out a dove-cot if so inclined. But for this it 
would be as harmless as the Acadian owl or “ Saw- 
whet,” as it is sometimes called. 
Audubon says of the little red owl, “This little 
fellow is generally found about farm-houses, orchards, 
and gardens. It alights on the roof, the fence, or the 
earden-gate, and utters its mournful ditty.” I once 
knew it to go a little nearer to civilization, and with 
tragic result. The owl went into the terra-cotta cap 
of the chimney and on down until it reached a stove- 
pipe hole, and then into the pipe to the crook of an 
“elbow,” and there it rested. Some time after a fire 
was started in the stove and it ‘‘smoked” to some 
purpose, and the cause was only ascertained by a 
violent trembling of the pipe and a chattering that 
would have founded a ghost story years ago. When 
