utes, seventeen trips to her young with 

 food. 



A gentleman living in the West when 

 there was so much damage done by 

 grasshoppers found that the owls were 

 living on them and not eating much of 

 any other kind of food. The only way 

 he could tell what the owls had for 

 supper was to shoot an owl once in 

 awhile and see what was in its stomach. 

 One barn owl had thirty-nine locusts, 

 twenty- two other insects, and one 

 mouse which it had just taken. Screech 

 owls and burrowing owls usually had 

 more than two dozen locusts, and some 

 of them had other kinds of insects. 



A rabbit, a weasel, a mink, or even a 

 skunk is good eating for the owl. And 

 there are times when one owl will make 

 a meal of another owl of smaller size. 

 A large red-tailed hawk was once put 

 into a garret where there was a snowy 

 owl. That night the hawk was killed 

 and partly eaten by the owl. A tame 

 great horned owl and a little screech 

 owl were shut up in a ha)- loft together. 

 The wings of the big owl were cut so 

 he could not fly. After about a week 

 they both became one owl, and that 

 owl threw up the claws, beak, bones, 

 and feathers which had once been use- 

 ful to the little screech owl. 



Owls sometimes catch partridges and 

 quails. This is not so bad, for they 

 pick out the weak birds that are not 

 well, and so keep disease from spread- 

 ing among the fine birds. A hunter 

 once shot a bob white so that it was 

 not killed but could not fly. He and 

 his dog were chasing the bird in the 

 ?rass along a fence hoping to catch it. 

 An owl saw the wounded bird and 

 thought it belonged to him because it 

 was not well. He came out of the woods 

 very swiftly and picked up the bob 

 white right before the eyes of the 

 hunter. 



In woods where there are panthers 

 one will often hear in the night fearful 

 cries that make it seem as if some wild 

 beast were about to jump down from 

 some tree near by to kill the one who 

 is out so late. Most of these cries 

 which frighten people so are made by 

 hoot owls. But it is not easy to tell 

 whether the sound comes from a hoot 

 owl or from the throat of a wild cat. 



There is a saying among country peo- 

 ple who wish to seem wise: "I wasn't 

 brought up in the woods to be afraid 

 of owls." 



The hoot owl has so many wild notes 

 in his voice that it is not at all strange 

 that he scares people who have not 

 been brought up in the woods. Be- 

 fore he sends out his proper hoot he 

 sometimes seems to try to frighten 

 everybody out of the forest with his 

 awful shrieks. Sometimes several hoot 

 owls get together in the night to hold 

 a concert One of them seems to tell a 

 funny story and all the rest break out 

 with shouts of he-he-he-Jie-Jii-hi-Jii-Jii-Jia- 

 ha-ka-ha, and then they become as 

 solemn as any other owls, and the still- 

 ness of the night is perfect until another 

 owl has a droll story or song to set the 

 rest a-shouting at. 



The owl is brave. One that weighed 

 less than six ouncesonce fought a nine- 

 pound rooster. A teamster in Maine 

 once went to sleep on top of his load 

 while his horses ate their oats beside a 

 forest road. When he pulled the 

 blanket away from his face an owl 

 pounced down upon it, perhaps think- 

 ing his white skin was a rabbit, and 

 tore his cheeks fiercely. He was much 

 frightened, having just awakened. But 

 he caught the owl and killed it after a 

 short struggle, and called himself 

 lucky because his eyes were not put 

 out by the bird. 



If the owl is a sober and wise bird 

 he forgets all about it when he woos 

 his mate. Such awkward dancing and 

 foolish boo-hoo-ing is never seen ex- 

 cept when the owl is trying to choose 

 a mate for life. But he makes up for 

 his awkwardness when there are eggs 

 to sit upon, for the owl is the best hus- 

 band a bird ever had. When there is 

 room in the old hollow where the nest 

 is he will sit on the eggs with his wife 

 and help her hatch the puffy little owl 

 children. 



Owls are the best of parents, too, 

 for they will risk their own lives freely 

 to protect their young. If their nests 

 are robbed and the old birds can find 

 where their young ones are caged they 

 will come daily with food for them 

 though they are in great danger in do- 

 ing so. 



