Horned and Hoot Owls 



credited with great cleverness, and modern ornithologists con- 

 sider that Minerva made a mistake when she chose the owl to 

 typify that wisdom for which she was revered. 



Saw-Whet Owl 



(Nyctala acadia) 



Called also: ACADIAN OWL 



Length']. 50 to 8 inches ; smallest of the eastern owls. 



Male and Female Upper parts dark reddish brown, the head 

 streaked, the back and wings spotted with light brown and 

 white; under parts white, heavily streaked with dark rusty 

 brown; tail with three or four broken white bars; facial disk 

 almost white, but blackened around the yellow eyes; legs 

 buff feathered ; no ear tufts ; bill and claws dark. 



Range North America at large, nesting from the middle states 

 northward, and in western mountainous regions south to 

 Mexico. 



Season Chiefly a winter visitor in middle states; locally a per- 

 manent resident. 



Birds that prey on skulking mice must needs be night 

 prowlers; but the theory has been seriously advanced that those 

 owls which remain in sleepy seclusion all day, like the little saw- 

 whet owl, are those that have suffered endless persecution from 

 other birds whenever they ventured abroad in the sunlight, which 

 is the reason they choose to hunt when others sleep an interest- 

 ing theory, if nothing more. Nocturnal birds are naturally 

 counted rarities, even where they are not. This little owl, by no 

 means uncommon, is a very sound sleeper, and makes no sign 

 of its existence, though one may be passing beneath its perch. 

 So sunk in oblivion is it, and so heavy-eyed with sleep when 

 roused, that many specimens may be taken with the hand. 

 Hence the expression, "As stupid as an owl." Because it is 

 small enough to crowd on a woman's hat, this is a little victim 

 commonly worn, sometimes with wings and tail outspread, or 

 again with only its head, like a Cheshire cat's, appearing in a 

 cloud of trimming. A woman who loudly applauded Dr. Van 

 Dyke's famous epigram, " A bird in the bush is worth two in the 

 hat," at an Audubon Society's meeting held in the Museum of 



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