VOl i9^6 CI11 ] Coolidge, Notes on the Screech Owl. 49 



wire." This box was placed facing north on a piazza. The owl 

 did not like to be in the sunlight except towards dusk, but he 

 always perched near the front of the cage where he could see 

 what was going on. During the daytime he was always quiet 

 unless his interest was aroused by something, when his head 

 would swing as violently as the exciting object warranted. This 

 habit of swinging the head was his most striking trait. His head 

 was almost always moving, either from side to side horizontally, 

 or around in a vertical and side to side circle, the eyes generally 

 focused with a stare on one thing or another. If he became excited, 

 this head motion was communicated to his whole body. The 

 circle which his head then described would reach from the point 

 of his greatest stature to the level of his perch. The head swing- 

 ing was not without interruption, being broken by frequent inter- 

 vals of a few seconds each of steady staring, or when things were 

 quiet and the owl had become accustomed to his surroundings, 

 by much longer periods of comparative stillness. This habit was 

 •noted in his Barred Owls by Frank Bolles. My owl occasionally 

 acted at sight of a person as a wild Screech Owl does, that is, he 

 would stiffen and would move his head only enough to keep an 

 eye on the intruder, and he always behaved thus at sight of a cat 

 or of a dog. After a preliminary grunt, 'urrh,' omitted however 

 if the intruder were human, he would draw his plumage close 

 to his body, move his tightly closed wings back slightly, erect his 

 ears, and half close his eyes. The reason for such behavior on 

 one occasion at sight of a distant gray squirrel invites speculation. 

 If a cat or a dog came too near, the owl would generally try to fly. 

 The quiet of the day was broken shortly after sunset by his begin- 

 ning to jump back and forth from perch to perch, and to swing 

 his head excitedly. Presently he would try to escape, either by 

 starting to fly directly from his perch or by climbing about the 

 wire netting and beating his wings against it : or he would give 

 vent to his feelings by tearing the papers which were spread on 

 the floor of the cage. This performance was repeated many 

 times every evening. He raised a large scab on his cere by bump- 

 ing it against the wiring. If food were offered him at this time, 

 he w r ould be too excited to notice it, but by eight or nine o'clock 

 he would be more quiet and more hungry. If during this evening 



