WAYS OF THE OWL. 201 



The memory of my owls is noticeably good. 

 Puffy and Fluffy, the two barred owls which I 

 have had longest, remember their favorite perches 

 from season to season, and resume their chosen 

 roosts after months of absence. In one instance 

 Fluffy, on his return to Cambridge after four 

 months in the mountains, flew the length of the 

 cellar, expecting to strike a perch which had 

 been removed, and, failing to find it, fell to the 

 floor. It is only necessary for me to bring a box- 

 trap into the barn for Puffy to come to the front 

 of his cage, eager to be given a chance to catch 

 the chipmunk which past experience leads him 

 to believe is in it. Similar eagerness is shown 

 in winter, when I bring a paper parcel into the 

 cellar, the owls knowing so well that it contains 

 food that they will tear it open themselves if I 

 do not open it for them. If the bundle is brought 

 in without their knowledge and thrown at ran- 

 dom upon the floor, they do not find it, and will 

 leave it for days untouched. Puffy does not like 

 going out in my boat. If he finds that I am tak- 

 ing him to the shore near it, he invariably jumps 

 oft' his stick and tries to hide in the bushes. 

 Snow^don knows a j^iece of cloth which I have 

 used to throw over his head when I have wished 

 to handle him, and the sight of it is enough to 

 cause him to make strong efforts to escape from 

 his cage. All three of the barred owls hide their 



