Barred Owls 531 



discovered at such times is "found sitting upright, with head drawn in, the eyes 

 half closed, and the feathers of the body raised, making the bird appear much 

 larger than it really is." "But," says Buller, "on the approach of night its 

 whole nature is changed; the half-closed orbits open to their full extent, the 

 pupils expand till the yellow irides are reduced to a narrow external margin, 

 and the lustrous orbs glow with animation, while all the motions of the bird 

 are full of life and activity. It then sallies forth from its hiding place and explores 

 in all localities, preferring, however, the outskirts of the forest, where nocturnal 

 insects abound, and the bush clearings in the neighborhood of farms, or the 

 ruins of Maori villages, these places being generally infested with rats and mice, 

 on which it chiefly subsists." 



Laughing Owl. Formerly included in this genus but now referred to 

 a genus of its own is the Laughing Owl (Sceloglaux albifacies) of New Zealand, 

 a bird about sixteen inches long, brown, much spotted and streaked with fulvous 

 on back and breast. It formerly subsisted principally on the native rat, but 

 since that species has disappeared this Owl has become exceedingly rare, in 

 fact seems itself on the border of extinction. 



Barred Owls. The Barred or Wood Owls and their immediate allies form 

 a large and widely distributed group (SyrnUn<z) of three genera and fully forty 

 species of medium-sized or large Owls with a well-developed facial disk. They 

 are without ear-tufts and have stout bills and strong claws, while the tarsi are 

 thickly feathered throughout and the toes usually so. The tail is of moderate 

 length and the wing rounded, with the third, fourth, and fifth quills longest. 

 The plumage above inclines to umber or sepia brown, barred or spotted with 

 buffy or whitish, and the lower parts to whitish, much barred, striped, or spotted 

 with brown. 



American Barred Owls. The best-known North American species is the 

 common Barred Owl (Syrnium varium) of the eastern United States and Canada 

 and westward to the Mississippi Valley and Texas. It is a large bird, between 

 nineteen and twenty-four inches in length, being next to the Great Horned Owl 

 in size, and almost as voracious. It mostly frequents heavily timbered regions, 

 preferably swampy tracts near watercourses, and is nocturnal in habits, although 

 not from any defect of vision, for it sees well during daylight. It remains con- 

 cealed in hollow trees or dense timber and comes forth at evening to seek its 

 prey, which consists of mice, squirrels, rabbits, frogs, crawfish, and occasionally 

 poultry. It is one of the most noisy of our Owls, particularly during the nesting 

 season, its loud, unearthly, and weird hoo-hoo, ho-ho-ho-ho-ho, hoo-hoo-to-to, 

 too-o, being very frequently heard. For a nesting site they usually select a natural 

 cavity in a tree, but in the absence of a suitable situation of this character they 

 may take the abandoned nest of a Hawk or Crow; they are much attached to 

 the site selected and return again and again even when robbed of eggs or young. 

 At the bottom of the cavity, without much attempt at nest making, they deposit 

 from two to four pure white and slightly granulated or roughened eggs. A slightly 

 darker colored and naked-toed race, known as the Florida Barred Owl (S. v, 

 alleni), occurs in the Gulf States from Florida to Texas, and a more spotted 



