Owls. 



Order, Itaptores. 

 Family, Bubonidae. 



Family Characteristics: Large birds of prey with curved beak 

 and sharp, curved talons. Large faces with firmly set eyes. If you 

 walk around them they must turn their heads in order to see you. 

 Usually dull brown in color much mottled and their legs are generally 

 feathered. They live largely on rats and mice, grasshoppers and 

 snakes and are therefore of great value. The small amount of do- 

 mestic fowl that they eat is hardly worth notice. 



376. SNOWY OWL. Nyctea nyctea. Two feet long. Mostly snow 

 white. Often mottled with drab. Very yellow eyes. Feathered socks. 



378. BURROWING OWL. Speotyto cuniculario hypogaea. Most- 

 ly brown above. More or less white beneath. No horns. Does not 

 wear socks. You can tell him by his size and the place where you 

 find him. 



375a. WESTERN HORNED OWL. Bubo Virginianus pallescens. 

 Twenty-two inches long. Named from the upright feathers that pro- 

 ject above the ears like horns. A genuine night owl. Mottled brown 

 above. Buffy white below. This is the owl that when the old maid 

 prayed for a husband asked "Who? Who?" to which the maid is said 

 to have replied. "Anybody good Lord". Both a bad and a good bird. 



373. SCREECH OWL. Megascops asio. Nine inches long. Small 

 feathers projecting upward from the sides of the head suggesting horns. 

 Dull-brown plumage. Screech dismally at night. A very valuable aid 

 to the farmer. 



368. BARRED OWL. Syrnium nebulosum. Twenty inches long. 

 Upper half of the bird barred with dark brown or whitish. Tail and 

 wings banded. Dark brown above. Streaked white below. 



367. SHORT-EARED OWL. Asio Accipitrinus. Fifteen inches 

 long. A real prairie owl with short horns and yellow eyes. White 

 eye-brows and black ring about the eyes. Dark yellowish-brown above. 

 Buffy white below. Irregularly barred all over. 



