220 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



THE SMALLEST OF OUR EASTERN OWLS 



A captive saw-whet owl. This species is either tame or stui 

 allows itself to be captured in the hand. It is shorter than 

 the pigmy and elf owls of the Southwest are still smaller. 



tween the two groups was thought to exist, but it is now be- 

 lieved by most ornithologists that the similarity has been 

 brought about by like feeding habits and that they are in 

 reality, quite widely separated groups, the owls being more 

 closely related to the night- 

 hawks and whip-poor-wills. 

 One of the numerous 

 anatomical differences be- 

 tween the hawks and the 

 owls, is that the owls have 

 their eyes set immovably 

 in their sockets and at the 

 front of the skull, so that 

 both are directed forward. 

 For this reason, an owl has 

 to turn its head in the di- 

 rection in which it wishes 

 to look. Owl's eyes are un- 

 usually large so as to admit 

 as much light as possible 

 during their nocturnal ac- 

 tivities. 



It is commonly believed 

 that owls cannot see during 

 the day. On the contrary, 

 they see very well, for the 

 iris can be drawn very close 

 until scarcely more light en- 

 ters than would with the 

 normal aperture at dusk. 

 The belief probably originated in the tameness or stupidi- 

 ty of some species which permit themselves to be cap- 

 tured during the day. On the other hand, certain 

 species, like the hawk owl and snowy owl, regularly 

 hunt by day and other species, like the short-eared and 

 great horned, hunt on dark days when they have 

 young to feed. 



Owls are not 

 dependent upon 

 their eyes sole- 

 ly for hunting 

 or escaping ene- 

 mies, for their 

 hearing is ex- 

 tremely acute. 

 The disks of 

 stiff radiating 

 feathers about 

 the eyes, that 

 give owls their 

 strange human 

 e x p r e s s i on, 

 have the func- 

 tion of protect- 

 ing the opening 

 of the ear. The 

 tufts of feath- 

 ers, sometimes 

 called "ears," 



A FORMIDABLE LINE OF DEFENSE 



And one that would strike terror to the heart of almost any photographer, whose worst crime was merely 

 a desire to secure a good picture of these defiant young long-eared owls. 



that adorn the heads of many species have nothing to 

 do with true ears. In most birds the ears open through 

 small apertures, covered and protected by somewhat 

 stiffened, modified feathers, below and behind the eye. 



No external ear is present. 

 With the owls, however, 

 although the canal leading 

 to the internal ear is not 

 relatively much larger, there 

 is a true external ear in the 

 form of a fold of skin and 

 an underlying groove which 

 extends from above the 

 eye, around the side of the 

 facial disk to below the bill. 

 The facial disk protects the 

 front edge of the ear and 

 several rows of somewhat 

 curled feathers the rear 

 edge, but so closely ap- 

 pressed are they normally, 

 that one might never sus- 

 pect the presence of large 

 ears. It is probable that 

 hearing plays a very im- 

 portant part in the owl's 

 pursuit of prey. 



Another peculiarity of 

 the owls in which they dif- 

 fer from all hawks except 

 the osprey, is that two toes are normally placed in front 

 and two behind. The outer toe, however, is opposable 

 and can be brought around to the front. In the majority 

 of species, the feathers extend down the legs and toes 

 to the talons. 



The feathers of owls even those of the wings are ex- 

 tremely soft, so 

 that they make 

 very little noise 

 in flying. The 

 Indian n a m c 

 for the owl, 

 " hush wing " 

 refers to this 

 and the silence 

 of their flight 

 is almost pro- 

 verbial. This 

 permits them to 

 fly through the 

 woods or low- 

 over the mea- 

 dow without 

 frightening the 

 small rodents 

 upon which 

 they feed. 



Since most 

 small animals 



