\k6 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



captivity, and have made observations on his habits as far as 

 time would permit. An unused chicken house was turned into 

 an owlery on my arrival home Sunday evening, February 7. 

 For a perch I secured a discarded Christmas tree (which was a 

 small cedar), and, after trimming the top, stood it erect in the 

 chicken coop. 



The first thing that I tried to feed to the owl was a white- 

 footed mouse, which had also been caught on February 7. The 

 mouse was placed in a metal washtub, the bottom of which was 

 covered with hay. It was night when the mouse was liberated ; 

 a lantern illuminated the interior of the coop, and I sat quietly 

 in one corner to watch the proceedings. For a time the owl, 

 through somewhat squinted eyelids, watched me from his perch ; 

 but, as the mouse in the hay beneath began to rustle about, his 

 manner changed. His eyes were now focused on the mouse, his 

 feathers were drawn close to his body, and his entire appearance 

 was one of preparation. Suddenly he dropped like a plummet 

 into the tub, and I feared that for the mouse all was ended. The 

 whitefoot, however, acted on the spur of the moment, and the 

 owl came up with empty talons. The poor mouse was now so 

 frightened that it cleared the rim of the tub with a single jump, 

 and scurried behind a pile of boards. Here he was allowed to 

 remain until the following night, when I removed the boards and 

 forced him into the open floor space. The owl sighted his 

 prey at once and dropped instantly from his perch, landing on 

 the mouse with deadly accuracy. After a few feeble squeaks, 

 and fifteen or twenty seconds of squirming of the body and lash- 

 ing of the tail, the mouse was dead. The owl now turned his 

 attention once more to me. That disinterested expression again 

 came into his eyes, and it looked as though the owl were settled 

 down for an all night vigil with the mouse held under his talons. 

 It was apparent that he would not proceed to devour his victim 

 while I was present in the coop, so I withdrew. In the morning 

 no trace of the mouse could be found. 



I was now confronted with the problem of supplying live food 



