BARRED OWLS IN CAPTIVITY. 129 



and seemed to be trying with their sweet tones 

 to induce him to give up being an owl. The 

 kinglets cared nothing for him, even when their 

 curiosity was aroused by the abuse of chickadees, 

 who were among the noisiest of Puffy's visitors. 

 Both nuthatches are common near Chocorua, 

 and both showed by brief, business-like remarks 

 what they thought of Puffy. Winter wrens 

 told Puffy plainly that he was a thief. The 

 indigo -bird was one of the few finches which 

 seemed much disturbed by him. The towhee 

 showed moderate excitement. The Icteridce 

 (American starlings), are uncommon in the Cho- 

 corua region, and none of them met Puffy in his 

 native meadows. About Cambridge, however, 

 orioles, redwings, crow blackbirds, and cow bunt- 

 ings all showed marked excitement and anger at 

 his presence. Night-hawks and whippoorwills 

 have not met Puffy. I hope next summer to 

 arrange an interview with a whippoorwill who 

 haunts my pasture bars. Once or twice hum- 

 ming-birds have buzzed a moment near Puffy's 

 head, as if adding their small tribute of hatred 

 to the general estimate of his character. 



None of the few species of game and water 

 birds found near Chocorua Lakes have seemed to 

 show any interest in the owls. 



I have recently taken Puffy to Chocorua in 

 the season of snow. Of the eight species of birds 



