278 Reed, Notes on the American Barn Ozvl. \oct 



the Owl to attract his attention, or he would be continually in the 

 way. On another occasion during 1893, Mr. Voelker and myself 

 bought three young Owls, which were shipped from Milford, Dela- 

 ware, to a bird store in Philadelphia to be sold. I think they 

 were two females and one male. The tips of their feathers still 

 had the down clinging to them, especially on their heads and 

 shoulders. This down is pushed out of the papillce by the new 

 growing feather, and in time becomes brittle and breaks off, not 

 necessarily at the point of attachment, for the fuzzy stumps can 

 often be seen long after the bunches of down have disappeared. 

 The down appears to be in three distinct bunches of seven strands 

 each, about an inch long, attached to the tips of several barbs 

 drawn together, the middle one being exactly in the centre of the 

 feather with one on each side of it. Nature has Avisely provided 

 in this way that the nestling should not be unclothed while in the 

 change of moult. The youngest of these Owls was afterwards 

 stuffed with a view of preserving it with the down, which unfortu- 

 nately became brittle in time and could be blown off like the seeds 

 from a ripe dandelion. The other two birds were liberated and 

 remained in the woods about his house for several months, 

 roosting among the dead foliage of broken limbs, their color 

 resembling the leaves so closely that the}' were not very readily 

 detected. From this roost I gathered a great many pellets which 

 I examined carefully, but failed to find any differences between 

 them and others collected elsewhere. 



I have never witnessed any pugnacious qualities in their habits, 

 but Mr. Voelker informed me that on one occasion the pet Owl 

 attacked his daughter, who opened an umbrella suddenly in his 

 presence ; whether or not this was more from fright than anger I 

 am unable to say, but she was always fearful of his presence 

 afterwards. I also read in one of the Philadelphia papers some 

 time ago of a case where a small colony had taken_ possession of 

 a barn near Plainfield, New Jersey, and fiercely attacked every 

 one who attempted to enter the building, the result of a boy 

 molesting their young. I wrote to the farmer whose name was 

 given, but my letter was returned unopened, and I therefore 

 cannot vouch for the truthfulness of the statement. 



During the spring of 1890, while studying the birds of Tinicum, 



