88 American Birds 



Later on, when we saw them full-grown, they had grown 

 to be more owl-like and dignified. 



An owl spreads terror among the small ground folk 

 as a ghost among negroes. It is the owl's shadow-silent 

 wings, his sharp, sound-catching ear, and his night-piercing 

 eyes that make him the superior of the mouse, the mole, 

 the gopher, and the squirrel. He fans over the field with 

 an ominous screech that sets a mouse scampering to his 

 hole, but his ear has caught the footstep ; those wings are 

 swift, those steel trap claws are always ready; his drop is 

 sure, his grip is death. 



It would be difficult to point out a more useful bird 

 than the barn owl in any farming country. Like many 

 other birds, it deserves the fullest protection, but man is 

 often its worst enemy. 



THE OWL FAMILY 



The Owls are distinguished from all other birds by having very 

 large heads. The large, round eyes looking forward instead of sidewise 

 give a full-face view. The bill is hooked; the claws long, hooked, and 

 very sharp. They live on animal food, catching small animals, birds, 

 reptiles, and insects at night-time. The strange and weird cries this 

 bird makes at night connect it with things superstitious. 



American Barn Owl (Strix pratincola): Male and female, face, white 

 edged with yellowish; under parts, pure white to yellowish-brown, dotted 

 with blackish spots; upper parts, yellowish-brown, more or less mottled 

 with gray. Lives throughout the warmer parts of North America, where 

 it nests in February and March. Nests in hollow trees, caves, towers, 

 and belfries. Eggs, from three to eight, dirty white. 



