72 About the House. 



by this feature. Their eyes are yellow, of varying shade. The birds are 

 common throughout Eastern North America as far north as New Brunswick 

 and south to Georgia, ranging west as far as the Great Plains. They are 

 generally resident and are more abundant in the middle districts and in the 

 south. They frequent the vicinity of dwellings and are oftener heard than 

 seen. The name given them locally in the south, " Shivering Owl," well 

 describes the peculiar tremulous cadence of certain of their call notes. They 

 breed early in the season in hollow trees and the deserted homes of the 

 larger Woodpeckers, laying from three to six pure white eggs about an inch 

 and two fifths long, and a little less than an inch and a fifth in their smaller 

 diameter. 



This is a near ally of the common Screech Owl and closely resembles 

 that bird. It is found in the same varieties of color as its prototype, but it 



, is decidedly smaller and generally darker colored, espe- 

 Flonda Screech Owl. . 111- 



Megascops asio floridanus cially on the under parts. In general habits and methods 



(Ridgw.). Q f nes t} n g the two are identical. They are found in 



lower South Carolina and Georgia, chiefly near the coast, and throughout 

 Florida and Southern Louisiana. 



The Barn Owls are the birds of literature, sung in song and praised in 



prose, birds of the ivy mantled church tower, and of old ghost inhabited 



castles long gone to decay. The prototype of our bird 



American Barn Owl. throughout England and Europe is very similar in ap- 



Strix pratincola Bonap. * . 



pearance, and representatives of the genus have an 

 almost world-wide range. 



Our bird varies from seventeen to eighteen inches in length and has the 

 upper parts bright yellowish brown with a gray mixture and spotted with 

 flecks of black and white. The tail is of similar color with dusky bands of 

 varying distinctness. The lower parts vary from snowy to tawny and are 

 marked more or less abundantly with dots shading from gray to almost 

 black. There are no ear tufts, but the facial discs are very much developed. 

 They are light colored with a distinct border of yellowish brown. The eyes 

 are comparatively small and the iris is so dark a brown as to form little con- 

 trast to the darker pupil. This is the only tawny owl in this region with black 

 eyes. 



