Barn Owl 227 



of eating. Bolting entire all the food they 

 catch, head first, they digest only the nutritious 

 portions of it. Then, bowing their heads and 

 shaking them very hard, they eject the bones, 

 claws, skin, hair and fur in matted pellets, with- 

 out the least distress. Some children I know, 

 who swallow their food in a hurry — cherry 

 stones, grape skins, apple cores and all — need 

 a similar, merciful digestive apparatus. 



Like the hawks, owls are devoted, life-long 

 mates. The females are larger than the males. 

 Some like to live in dense evergreens that hide 

 them from teasing blue jays and other foes by 

 day; some, like the bam owl, prefer towers, 

 church steeples or the tops of bams and other 

 buildings ; some hide in hollow trees or deserted 

 woodpeckers' holes, but all naturally prefer to 

 take their long, daily naps where the sunlight 

 does not penetrate. They live in their homes 

 more hours than woodpeckers or any other 

 birds. No doubt we pass by many sleeping 

 owls without suspecting their presence. 



BARN OWL 



Called also: Monkey-faced Owl 



This is the shy, odd-looking, gray and white 

 mottled owl with the triangular face and slim 



