Nov., 1883.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



87 



"Monkey-Faced Owls." 



Enclosed please find a photograph of a 

 pair of Owls which have been on exliibi- 

 tion here for two or three weeks. The 

 owner says they are the only pair in the 

 United States of North America, and are 

 native birds of Tartary. The photo is 

 a very fair representation. He calls them 

 "Monkey-faced Owls." The bill proper is 

 very small, but -the mouth extends almost 

 to the eyes. Eyes as near as I could see 

 were very small. Iris dark hazel. Back 

 dark brown, marked very finely, breast 

 speckled with brown, bill blackish, crown 

 finely mottled, no tufts, tarsi long. Two 

 j)air were taken at the fort at St. Augus- 

 tine, Florida, last February. One pair was 

 bought for some scientific institute in 

 Ohio but escaped. P. T. Barnum, the man 

 says, offered him $500 but he refused. 



If they are American birds they are a 

 cross of Barn Owl and something else. — 

 W. P. Tarrant^ Saratoga. 



A epecimen of the "Monkey-faced Owl," a rare bird, was 

 recently captured by Captain Pitts, of Orlando, Fla., in the 

 Everglades. It is described as being somewhat smaller than 

 the Hooting Owl. The plumage has the soft, furry texture 

 of the owl family, but a tinge of orange enters into the 

 color. The head and face are those of a baboon, the face 

 being white, while the eyes are much smaller than those of 

 an owl of the same size, coal-black and somewhat almond- 

 shaped, opening and closing with lids like those of an ani- 

 mal. In fact, they more nearly resemble the eyes of an 

 otter than a bird.— 7?*. 



Interesting Notes. 



The article in September O. and O. about 

 Flying Squirrels reminded me of my ex- 

 perience with a tame Gray Squirrel that I 

 had last year. I had a number of stuffed 

 birds standing on the mantel in my room, 

 unprotected. The SciurHS had the run of 

 the room, and one day took it into his head 

 to gnaw off the bills of every bird he could 

 find. He must have eaten them, for I 

 could find no trace of them anywhere, and 

 I was afraid at first he had poisoned him- 

 self, but no evil effects followed. One day 

 while out collecting I saw a Kingbird en- 

 gaged in a fight with a Great-crested Fly- 

 catcher, and in a few moments the latter 

 fell to the ground completely exliausted, 

 and probably injured internally, as I could 

 find no marks on it except a badly bunged 

 eye. I took it home and placed it in a 

 cage open at the top, and after a few min- 

 utes absence, returned just in time to find 

 that Master Sciurns had climbed into the 

 cage, killed the bird and Avas engaged in 

 gnawing its bill, ruining its value as a 

 specimen, for which I had intended it. Af- 

 ter that I was careful to leave no birds 

 where he could get at them. 



In the summer of last year I found a 

 nest which I have never been able to iden- 

 tify, as no bird was near. It was in New 

 Castle Co., Del., and was placed in the cen- 

 tre of a clump of hazel bushes, growing in 

 a swamj^, so that I had to wade at least 

 fifty yards before reaching it. It resem- 

 bled a Wood Thrush's nest, being built of 

 mud, but was an inch deeper than any 

 nest of that kind I ever saw. The diame- 

 ter was about the same. It was placed 

 about two feet above the water and con- 

 tained four eggs, much like a runt Cat- 

 bird's eg^g, and of a dark blue color, with a 

 slight greenish cast. The latter is hardly 

 distinguishable when jDlaced beside a Cat- 

 bird's egg. Now can any reader of O. and 

 O. tell me what bird it belongs to ? It was 

 not a case of a Catbird laying in an old 

 nest, for I had been through that same 



