1890.] BoLLES, Barred Owls in Captivity- 107 



low the wings. If turned on their backs while thus held, they 

 remain entirely quiet. 



During the greater part of the long winter I keep them in a 

 closet in my main cellar. I found to my cost that I could 

 not keep them in the sunny cellar where my hens were, for the 

 reason that they caught and ate some of my pullets and terrified 

 the survivoi's so that their lives were a burden. Their only deli- 

 cacies in these months are mice. Their attitudes in chasing a 

 dead mouse dragged over the cellar by a string are striking. 

 Fluffy sails noiselessly over the ground with feet pointed forward 

 and claws ready to close, but Puffy, unable to fly, stalks across 

 the floor, his head pushed forward, and his feathers drawn away 

 from his legs. 



As the spring of 1S89 came on, the Owls became tuneful after 

 their kind. The quality of their sounds suggested feline music, 

 while their accent and metre often aroused my roosters to respon- 

 sive crowing. They seldom hooted more than once or twice, and 

 then in the early evening. 



With the coming of warm weather and the return of birds in 

 the spring of 1S89 I began a series of experiments with Puffy 

 which proved of considerable interest. I had found that he was 

 willing to be carried about while perching on a short stick. 

 Taking him in a basket to some woods in the suburbs of Cam- 

 bridge, I displayed him to the Robins, Pigeon Woodpeckers, 

 Vireos and Warblers which chanced to be at hand. No impres- 

 sario ever was more delighted at the success of a new star. A 

 full house gathered at once. Armed with a field glass I had the 

 satisfaction of studying at short range the whole bird population 

 of the neighborhood. The Robins, Brown Thrushes and Pig- 

 eon Woodpeckers were the noisiest, the Oven-birds and Red- 

 eyed Vireos the most persistent, the Chickadees the most 

 indignant. The Woodpeckers went so far as to fly past the Owl 

 so close as to brush his feathers and make him jump at each 

 charge. On May 12, during a three hours' walk, I saw over forty 

 species of birds, many of which — as for example, Nashville and 

 Prairie W r arblers — I had unusual and ample time to study through 

 my glass, thanks to their interest in the Owl and consequent indif- 

 ference to me. It was not, however, until my long vacation in 

 Chocorua, beginning July 6, that I really had time to ascertain 

 the full value as a magnet of my patient little bird companion. 



