THE OOLOGIST^ 



87 



■few feathers thrown promiscously to- 

 gether ia a loose heap witliout any at- 

 tempt at arrangeruent. Half buried in 

 this rude nest I found one large, glossy, 

 jjure white egg, almost spherical in 

 shape, and measuring, perhaps one and 

 one third inches in diameter. 



Handling the egg of a song bird ruins 

 it as completely as breaking the shell, 

 and merely to touch the nests of some 

 birds would be quite as cruel as to des- 

 troy them, for most birds will never re - 

 turn to a nest which has been molested. 

 My little Owl, however, was not so fas- 

 tidious and when I put her back in the 

 hollow she settled down with a quiet 

 chuckle, terribly afraid of me, no doubt, 

 but still more afraid of the bright sun- 

 shine. 



After that I visited the little Owl 

 whenever I passed near her tree, and 

 although I am sure she would rather 

 have been let alone, she never took any 

 serious offense at my visits, and proba- 

 bly never thought of deserting her nest 

 on my account. Sometimes I found 

 her alone, and sometimes her mate was 

 with her. One evening just as the gray 

 of twilight was making objects indis- 

 tinct but not invisible I was passing 

 near the old apple ti'ee without intend- 

 ing to stop, when a w.eird, doleful scream 

 startled me and made me hastily look 

 around. It was the respectable head of 

 the Owl family just emerging from his 

 door to begin his nightly hunt for mice 

 and sparrows, and he was exercising the 

 peculiar vocal powers which have gained 

 him the common name of Screech Owl. 



Perched just outside his doorway he 

 was a sight to behold, iDuffed up to more 

 than twice his natural size, every feath- 

 er standing on end, his glaring goggle 

 eyes dilated, he seemed, in the uncer- 

 tain light to be almost as large as a tur- 

 key. Again he began that strange, wild 

 scream, but in the middle of his cry he 

 caught sight of me, and instantly the 

 piercing "screech" was broken off and 

 died away in a gurgling cluck. Drop- 



ping his feathers and drawing himself 

 down very small the apparently huge 

 monster of a moment before became 

 quite a little bird and retreated back- 

 wards into his hole, a ridiculously sud- 

 den change from ostentatious greatness 

 to a humble wish to escape observation. 



When the mother Owl had completed 

 her set of four eggs she brooded upon 

 them and hatched and reared a fine 

 family of Owlets, disturbed, though not 

 seriously distressed by my visits, and 

 duly appreciative of occasional small 

 presents of scrap meat. 



I once knew some boys who kept a 

 Screech Owl in a cage. Their father 

 sometimes poisoned rabbits with strych- 

 nine to keeping them from nibbling his 

 young apple trees, and the boys would 

 bring in the dead bunnies and feed them 

 to the Owl. The bird would eat both 

 flesh and fur in his peculiar, Owlish way, 

 and, strange to say, was never injured 

 by the poison. 



The night cries of the Screech Owls, 

 which I always listen to with delight, 

 are very disagreeable to some people, 

 yet no one ever hai-ms the birds, for it 

 is well known that they subsist mainly 

 on mice and rats, yet there is another 

 Owl which is heartily hated by most of 

 hisacquaintances.This is the Great Horn- 

 ed Owl, or Cat Owl, a large bird which 

 is often called the Hoot Owl from its 

 peculiar cry. This cry, very different 

 from that of the little mottled Screech 

 Owl, is not really "hoot!" but sounds 

 more like "who-o-o-ol" 



These large Owls not only destroy a 

 great many Quails and wild Pigeons 

 but are said to make frequent raids on 

 badly closed hen-houses, and to show 

 no mercy to the poultry which roosts in 

 the trees near farm houses. It is prob- 

 able that they deserve their evil reput- 

 ation, and I regret to say that I have 

 found them guilty of still another crime. 



Rambling along the side of a wooded 

 hill on the first of March I caught sight 

 of a large rude nest near the top of a 



