186 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
Happily for the barn owl, he does not often 
come out. He loves quiet more than anything. 
He seeks a hidden, safe place, not only for a nest, 
but to spend his days in. He is almost the only 
bird who may be said to live in a home. 
When house hunting, this bird will take a snug 
cavity in a tree, or an empty building. He does 
not despise an old mining shaft, or a burrow in 
the ground. He delights in a church steeple or 
a barn. Almost any place that is quiet and out 
of sight of the world will suit him. 
All day the barn owl stays at home. But in 
the evening he comes out for his dinner, and 
then there is havoc among the small animals. 
Rats, ground squirrels, mice, bats, small snakes, 
grasshoppers, and almost anything else that is 
eatable are welcome to him. He should be pro- 
tected because he is so useful. 
This bird is an amiable fellow too. He has 
been known to live pleasantly in a church tower 
with pigeons, whom he could easily kill to eat if 
he wished. He is a hearty eater himself, besides 
feeding a family of five or six little fuzzy white 
owlets great quantities of food. 
One of these owls has lived for years in a 
tower of the Smithsonian Institution in Wash- 
ington. In the Zodlogical Collection of that city, 
there was, not long ago, another of the family 
