The Birds and Poets 257 



The screech owl is probably the most abundant. 

 This little owl is one of the smallest of the owl 

 family, measuring about an inch shorter than the 

 robin. It often makes its home near dwellings. 

 Old apple orchards are favorite retreats, where 

 numerous cavities in the trees offer a secure refuge 

 from the hosts of small birds which constantly 

 attack them if they show themselves by day. They 

 are strictly nocturnal like the two species already 

 discussed, and when darkness falls their tremulous, 

 wailing whistle may often be heard, especially 

 upon moonlight nights. Stupid by day, they 

 appear very differently when the western sky fades 

 and night falls. Dr. Chapman inquires: "Is any 

 bird more thoroughly awake than a hungry screech 

 owl? With ear-tufts erected and his great, round 

 eyes opened to the utmost, he is the picture of alert- 

 ness." * 



I have often heard them whistle in the trees 

 beside my village home; and a friend recently told 

 me of one that came into his sleeping porch and 

 perching on the post of a bed, uttered its tremulous 

 cry in the semi-darkness, frightening his daughter 

 almost into hysterics. In plumage they have two 

 phases, one reddish brown and one gray. These 

 color phases are not dependent upon age, sex or 

 season, and both phases are often found in the 

 young of a single brood. 



John Vance Cheney's "Little Warm Owl" must 

 have been a February screech owl: 



* Birds of Eastern North America, p. 219. 



