Screech Owls 23T 



up for bluebirds in his father*s orchard. Al- 

 though they had full liberty, in time they be- 

 came tame pets, even pampered darlings, with 

 a willing slave to trap mice for them in the com 

 crib and hay loft. At first mice were plentiful 

 enough, and every day after school the boy 

 would empty the traps, climb the apple tree 

 and feed the owls. But presently the mice 

 learned the danger that may lurk behind an 

 innocent looking lump of cheese. One foolish, 

 hungry mouse now and then was all the boy 

 could catch. This he would carry by the tail 

 to his sleeping pets, arouse them by dangling it 

 against their heads, at which, while half asleep, 

 they would click their beaks like castanets. 

 When both were wide awake he would allow 

 one of them to bolt the mouse while he still 

 held on firmly to the tail. Then, jerking the 

 mouse back out of the owl's throat, he would 

 allow the other owl to really swallow it. When 

 next he caught a mouse, the operation was 

 reversed: the owl that had been satisfied be- 

 fore now gulped the mouse first, only to have 

 it jerked away and fed to its mate. In this 

 way, strange to say, the boy kept on friendly 

 terms with the pair for several weeks, when he 

 discovered that they liked bits of raw beef quite 

 as well as mice. After that he carried his 

 queer pets to the house and kept them in his 

 room all winter. Early in the spring they 



