310 The Screech Owl 
could take these birds to a man in Orange who would 
pay at least six or eight dollars for them. 
I pitied the little birds—they were screech owls—- 
and offered the man what I considered to be a moder- 
ate sum for them. He accepted the offer very 
quickly, although it was considerably Jess than he 
had said he could get for them in Orange. 
I carried them home in a paper box, and arranged 
temporary quarters for them, until I could construct 
something better. I gave each of them an English 
sparrow, which I fancied was more to their liking 
than bread and milk; nor did they need to be urged 
to eat, but eagerly began their feast at once. 
We gave them appropriate names, corresponding to 
sex as indicated by their former owner, calling the 
larger one “Billy” and the smaller one “Betty.” 
They were rather large to thoroughly tame, but I 
handled them quite a little, and soon Betty appeared 
to enjoy it and became very friendly, but Billy would 
sometimes protest strongly with a hissing noise, 
similar to the prolonged sound of the letter @ in 
care, accompanied by a snapping of his beak. Betty 
became so tame that my little daughter could scratch 
the owl’s head, and it would have been difficult to 
tell from the appearance which one enjoyed it the 
more. 
