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THE WESTERN HORNED OWL. 



(Bubo vir^inianus subarcticus.) 



" Bird of the silent wing and expansive eye, grimalkin in feathers, feline, mousing, 

 haunting ruins and towers, and mocking the midnight stillness with thy uncanny cry." 

 — John Burroughs, Birds and Poets. 



Among the birds of prey (Raptores) 

 none are better known, piore written 

 about or more cosmopolitan than that 

 nocturnal division (Family Strigidae), 

 which includes the two hundred or more 

 species of Owls. From the Arctic regions 

 of the north tg the Antarctic regions 

 of the south they are known. Most of the 

 genera are represented in both hemi- 

 spheres, though eight are peculiar to the 

 Old World and three to the New. The 

 majority of the species finds a home in the 

 forests, though a few live in marshes and 

 on the plains. Some invade the buildings 

 of civilization and may be found in the 

 unfrequented towers of churches and in 

 outbuildings. 



Disliked by all birds its appearance 

 during the day is the signal for a storm of 

 protests and, knowing that there is little 

 need of fear of his power at this time, they 

 flock about him, pecking and teasing him 

 till he is obliged to retreat to his obscure 

 roosting place. 



The Owls in most countries of both the 

 New World as well as the Old are regard- 

 ed as birds of ill omen and messengers of 

 woe, and are protected from harm by 

 some uncivilized and superstitious peo- 

 ples, some believing that spirits of the 

 wicked reside in their bodies. By others 

 they have been called "Devil's Birds." 

 The belief of some unlearned people in 

 the close relationship of the Owl with 

 death and the grave dates back at least to 

 the time of Shakspeare, who speaks of the 

 Owl's hoot as "A song of death." Among 

 the ancient races only the Athenians seem 

 not to have possessed this popular fear 

 and superstition. They venerated the Owl 

 an-d regarded it as the favorite bird of Mi- 

 nerva. On the other hand the Romans 



looked upon the Owl with fear and de- 

 testation, dreading its appearance as the 

 embodiment of all evil and the omen of 

 unfortunate events to come. By them the 

 Owl was consecrated to Proserpine, the 

 wife of Hades and queen of the under- 

 world. Pliny tells us that the city of Rome 

 underwent a solemn cleansing because of 

 the visit of one of these birds. When the 

 unearthly character of their cries and 

 their quiet, spirit-like motion, as they fly 

 through the night hours, are taken into, 

 consideration, it is not surprising that 

 they have been and are held in awe and 

 dread by many people. The characteris- 

 tics of the two sexes are practically the 

 same, except that the female is somewhat 

 the larger. The young resemble the 

 adults, but are usually darker in color. 

 Excepting those species that are whitish 

 in color, the Owls are usually a mixture 

 of black, brown, rufous gray, yellow and 

 white, and barring is common on the 

 wings and tail. Their bills are blackish, 

 dusky or yellowish. Their eyes are so 

 fixed that they have little power of turn- 

 ing the eye-balls and thus are obliged to 

 turn the head when they wish to change 

 their range of vision. This they do with 

 great rapidity, in fact, the motion is so^ 

 rapid that without close observation the 

 bird seems to turn its head in one direc- 

 tion for several revolutions if the object 

 looked at passes around the perch upon 

 which the Owl rests. A remarkable char- 

 acteristic is the reversible fourth toe or 

 digit, enabling the Owl to perch with 

 either one or two toes behind. 



Mr. Evans tells us that "the note varies 

 from a loud hoot to a low, mufiled sound 

 or a clear, musical cry ; the utterance of 

 both young and adults being in some 



