Notes and 
food consists chiefly of mice and other small 
mammals, frogs, fish, lizards and insects, 
so that on the whole it is really more the 
farmer’s friend than his foe. “ In February,” 
writes Neltje Blanchan, “the barred owl loses 
his unsocial, hermit-like instinct, and for his 
mate’s society, at least, shows a devoted 
preference. ‘The pair go about looking for al 
natural cavity in dense or swampy woods ; 
but that failing them they unscrupulously 
Dial 
—— 
" 
i 
Comments 285 
comical expression on thew faces, their 
bodies closely huddled together to save 
warmth.” 
Os 
Aut sorts of queer animals have been broken 
to harness, but it is not often 
one hears of an ostrich between 
the shafts of a dogcart. One 
can imagine, however, that this bird makes 
a swift steed, and perhaps before long we 
An Ostrich 
Cart. 
i 
aes} Re ou 
eeaee Cha hRey 
A SOUTH AFRICAN 
take possession of a hawk’s or crow’s nest, 
tenaciously holding it year after year, as all 
owls do their homes. They rarely build a 
nest of their own, or take pains to line a 
cavity or to alter an appropriated tenement 
unless it should need repairs. A camera 
can take no more amusing picture than 
a group of owlets perching on a naked 
limb near their cradle, their downy feathers 
ruffled by the March wind, a surprised, 
OSTRICH IN HARNESS. 
shall see it superseding the hansom cab 
horse, or, who knows, the motor car. 
Wa 
Mr. Lewis Loneriz.p, of Ramsgate, sends 
the two photographs reproduced 
on the next page of a Sturgeon 
caught by one of the local 
smacks—No. 151—and brought into Ramsgate 
Harbour on November 21st, 1902. It weighed 
2 ewt. 3 qrs. 14 Ibs., and sold for £5 15s. 
A Monster 
Sturgeon. 
