A FEW FEATHERED FIENDS. 231 



owl years ago was proved by a careful comparison 

 with Audubon's plate and description. Years after- 

 wards a second specimen was sent from this neigh- 

 borhood to Philadelphia to the late Mr. Cassin, who 

 identified it. The barn-owl 'is a resident here and 

 has been for many years ; the cat-owl, or long-eared 

 owl, was common before the woods were cut off, the 

 swamps cleared, and one pretty bit of country con- 

 verted into a desert that needs the refuse of a large 

 town to keep it tolerably green. The marsh-owl is a 

 migratory bird, and has resided for years in the lower 

 marsh meadows. The barred owl is a stranger rarely 

 seen now, and only in late autumn and winter. The 

 saw-whet owl is a winter visitor, but has been found 

 in the back swamps, three miles from here, through- 

 out the year, a southern colony of a northern bird. 

 The great horned owl has been almost entirely driven 

 off by the reckless deforesting of the country. A 

 few still come and go during the winter, but at every 

 opportunity are shot by some farmer that his name 

 may appear in the local paper. 



When the meadows were as wild as they are now 

 tame there was a colony of marsh-owls that stayed 

 in one rather circumscribed area and shaped their 

 habits in accordance with their surroundings. They 

 nested, for instance, not on the ground, but in the 

 cavernous hollows of the old pollards and scattered 

 sycamores. This was done to avoid the destruction 

 of their eggs or young, for the tides varied, and light 

 freshets frequently followed unusually heavy or pro- 

 tracted rains. In other words, they saw fit to stay 



