THE SCREECH OWL 117 



What else does the owl eat ? (Small birds. These, 

 too, it kills almost immediately.) How does it catch 

 them ? Does it swallow them whole ? (No, it tears 

 them in pieces.) Do the birds know that the owl 

 is their enemy? How do they treat it? (If they 

 find an owl in the daytime, they make a terrible 

 commotion. All the birds gather together and scream 

 at it, flying as close to it as they dare. When it 

 flies away they follow it, calling it hard names.) 



How does the owl catch its other food? How 

 much of this food can it get in the winter? Does 

 it go out hunting on the coldest nights ? (In the 

 warmer weather it often stores up enough food to 

 last it a week or more, and mature owls often go a 

 week without any food, not seeming to mind it.) 



What, besides food, does it need ? (Water.) It is 

 a great drinker. Owls are sometimes caught by cut- 

 ting holes in the ice. They come here to drink and 

 are captured. 



Is the screech owl's coat well fitted for a bird which 

 must make a living in the winter as well as in the 

 cold, damp nights in warmer weather ? Study care- 

 fully the plumage of the owl as adapted to its protec- 

 tion from cold and damp. Unlike many other birds, 

 the legs are covered their whole length with feathers, 



