74 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



ease on the backs of chairs, or on other pieces of furniture ; 

 seldom miscalculating the distance or missing a footing, as 

 many of the other owls would in the same circumstances. 

 This bird soon became tame, and would accept food at almost 

 any time in the day or night : on receiving a piece of meat, 

 he sometimes attempted to clutch it with his foot, and my 

 fingers often had narrow escapes x from his sharp, crooked 

 talons. Usually, he would seize it with his mouth, and, if 

 not too large, swallow it without tearing : if the piece was 

 more bulky than he could manage, he stood on it, and tore 

 it with his beak. Fish he invariably rejected, but greedily 

 ate mice and small birds : a dead pigeon, that I put in his 

 cage, was untouched for several days. He died in conse- 

 quence of a hurt he received in flying against a window. 



The Barred Owl subsists principally upon small birds, 

 field-mice, and reptiles. He is frequently seen, in early 

 twilight, flying over the low meadow-lands, searching for the 

 mice that dwell there : he usually takes a direct course, and 

 sometimes flies so low that the tips of his wings seem to 

 touch the grass. When he discovers his prey, he drops on 

 it instantly, folding his wings and protruding his feet, in 

 which his quarry is always secured : he often captures frogs 

 that are sitting on the shores of ponds and rivers ; but I am 

 inclined to think that the statement, quoted by Audubon, 

 that he often catches fish, is incorrect. The Barred Owl 

 usually nests in high trees, placing the structure of sticks 

 and leaves in a crotch near the trunk. The eggs are usually 

 three in number. I have one only in my collection : this is 

 pure-white, almost globular, and, except in shape, hardly 

 distinguishable from the egg of the domestic hen. It is 

 2 inches in length by 1.68 in breadth. 



NYCTALE, BREHM. 



Nyctale, BREHM, Isis (1828), 1271. 



Size small ; head with very small ear-tufts, only observable when erected ; eyes 

 small; bill moderate, or not very strong; facial disc nearly perfect; wings rather 

 long; tail short; legs and toes densely feathered. 



