378 REED, WVozes von the American Barn Owl. one 
the Owl to attract his attention, or he would be continually in the 
way. On another occasion during 1893, Mr. Voelker and myself 
bought three young Owls, which were shipped from Milford, Dela- 
ware, to a bird store in Philadelphia to be sold.. I think they 
were two females and one male. ‘The tips of their feathers still 
had the down clinging to them, especially on their heads and 
shoulders. This down is pushed out of the papillae by the new 
growing feather, and in time becomes brittle and breaks off, not 
necessarily at the point of attachment, for the fuzzy stumps can 
often be seen long after the bunches of down have disappeared. 
The down appears to be in three distinct bunches of seven strands 
each, about an inch long, attached to the tips of several barbs 
drawn together, the middle one being exactly in the centre of the 
feather with one on each side of it. Nature has wisely provided 
in this way that the nestling should not be unclothed while in the 
change of moult. The youngest of these Owls was afterwards 
stuffed with a view of preserving it with the down, which unfortu- 
nately became brittle in time and could be blown off like the seeds 
from a ripe dandelion. The other two birds were liberated and 
remained in the woods about his house for several months, 
roosting among the dead foliage of broken limbs, their color 
resembling the leaves so closely that they were not very readily 
detected. From this roost I gathered a great many pellets which 
I examined carefully, but failed to find any differences between 
them and others collected elsewhere. 
I have never witnessed any pugnacious qualities in their habits, 
but Mr. Voelker informed me that on one occasion the pet Owl 
attacked his daughter, who opened an umbrella suddenly in his 
presence; whether or not this was more from fright than anger I 
am unable to say, but she was always fearful of his presence 
afterwards. I also read in one of the Philadelphia papers some 
time ago of a case where a small colony had taken possession of 
a barn near Plainfield, New Jersey, and fiercely attacked every 
one who attempted to enter the building, the result of a boy 
molesting their young. I wrote to the farmer whose name was 
given, but my letter was returned unopened, and I therefore 
cannot vouch for the truthfulness of the statement. 
During the spring of 1890, while studying the birds of Tinicum, 
