LONG-EARED OWL 289 



coloration is combined with conscious protective 

 attitudes. When the Owl is frightened, it rises 

 up, " draws the feathers close to the body, and 

 erects the ear-tufts, resembling in appearance a 

 piece of weather-beaten bark more than a bird." l 

 When not able to employ this device effectively, 

 the Owl resorts to another. Major Bendire sur- 

 prised one while she was killing a ground squir- 

 rel, and was startled by the sudden transformation 

 that took place in her. " All at once she seemed 

 to expand to several times her normal size," 

 he says, " every feather raised and standing at a 

 right angle from the body ; the wings were fully 

 spread, thrown up and obliquely backward, their 

 outer edges touching each other over and behind 

 the head, which likewise looked abnormally large." 

 This was accompanied by a hissing noise. But 

 in spite of this bravado, the bird found herself 

 afraid to stand her ground, and, " collapsing to her 

 normal size, flew off, leaving her quarry behind." 

 Doctor Fisher proclaims the Long-eared Owl 

 one of our most beneficial species, for it destroys 

 vast numbers of injurious rodents and seldom 

 touches insectivorous birds. It is preeminently a 

 mouser. 



1 Hawk and Owl Bulletin, p. 143, U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture. 



