THE 

 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



Vol. 16 April. 1920 No. 4 



Peter— The Story of a Pet Owl 



William P. Alexander 



Instructor in Farm Nature-Study, Cornell University 



Ornithologists would have called him Otus avio, but when a 

 Cornell student one day gave me a little gray screech owl that he 

 had found with a broken wing and grievously lacerated breast, I 

 took it home with me and called it simply Peter. 



Some person with a gun, and but little common sense had 

 injured him badly, and to save his life 'seemed for a long while a 

 hopeless undertaking. His injured parts were carefully washed 

 and treated with a powerful antiseptic, a performance attended 

 with divers trying difficulties, for Peter expostulated in a most 

 effective manner with beak, claws and much clapping of his 

 resounding mandibles. For many days he took no food, and wt were 

 required to place water down his throat with the aid of a pipette. 



He would sit with his feathers fluffed out, huddled up in the 

 corner of his cage, a picture of dejection and pathetic despond- 

 ency. His nights were usually spent in tearing at his wounded 

 breast and the possibility of its ever healing grew daily less, and we 

 all but gave Peter up for a doomed owl. 



Then a surprising thing happened. One morning a large fat 

 mouse that hung in his cage disappeared, and from that time he 

 brightened up, ate regularly and gradually became a well, strong 

 bird again, but his beautiful left wing was useless to him for flight, 

 and Peter's sole means of locomotion was thenceforth, his singu- 

 larly active feet. He would walk with a most dignified stride, 

 take long bounding leaps or claw his way up the rough cellar wall 

 with the agility of a rodent. 



Peter soon became very tame and withal one of the most droll 

 and amusing pets imaginable. He was very cat-like in appearance 

 and in his habits. 



His head, with its pair of erectile ear-tufts, large golden eyes with 

 their striking contractile irises, and blinking, nictitating eyelids, 



133 



