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the owls to forget that he considered himself “ boss,” and he chevied them

about, and drove them from place to place at his will.


Poor Sparrow ! One morning he was gone, and but a few of the big

feathers of his wings remained. I thought lie had escaped through a hole

in the wire that I discovered. I now believe Billy ate him up, and this is my

reason for so believing. Billy and Tawny lived together for about eight

years. They were the best of friends, nestled up to one another and seemed

quite contented. I suppose however that Billy used to hold a threat over

his friend in terrorem that failing to behave himself, he might some day get

eaten. One night the tragedy ensued. There was a disturbance and a

struggle. Tawny lost the day. Dead men tell no tales, and having killed

his companion, the great owl, after the manner of the boa at the Zoo,

proceeded to digest his friend. Nothing but the large feathers of Tawny

remained, and a lot of the fluff)' down on Billy and all over the cage. The

following morning, Billy looked abnormally and preternaturally serious.

He was distended and puffed out, and not a morsel of food did he touch for

several days. It was quite clear afterwards where Tawny had gone—every¬

thing proved the truth of our conjecture; and now I understood what had

been the fate of Sparrow years before, and possibly of a white owl that had

also unaccountably vanished.


That White Owl (Strix flammea), by the way, used to have visitors. A

sort of evening’s “At Home ” used to be held, and I could see other white,

fluffy, noiseless creatures flutter up to her at the cage, and then the hissing

and owl-talk that went on reminded me of the sound of a hundred pots all

boiling and hissing on a great big fire.


Ifvouweretosee an owl stripped of its feathers you -would be astonished

to see how small a bird it is. Owls are not larger than pigeons when their

feathers are taken from them, and so light in weight.


Their hearing is wondrously acute, most sensitive to every sound, and

the group of ear feathers that they can eredt at will to catch the sound gives

them a very quaint attentive look.


My Long-eared Owl (Strix otus ) was a most grotesque bird. He used to

close his eyes all but one tiny corner, and then you could see that through

that one corner he was watching everything that went on, especially other

smaller birds, such as sparrows that perched near.


He sat and cogitated and looked like a student of Plato or an eminent

theologian ; but drop a bit of meat into his cage, and then ears erect, claws

erect, head eredt, and on to that meat in an instant he dropped. T have seen

him lie on his back and fight the other owls with claws and bill, and not a

bit of a theologian did he look then, unless perhaps “ a muscular Christian.”

Poor Strix, he had a fit, and his head, with ears eredt, hangs in front of me

as I write.


I have had Scops Owl (Strix Scops), and I have hadTengmalms lovely

little owl (Strix funerea ), but have never secured a Snowy Owl, (Strix nycted)\ I

have always coveted him, and once saw him in .Shetland. He is a most

lovely white bird, and the most affectionate of all the group when tamed.

He can hunt in the daytime, having quite a different arrangement of sight

from other owls, and in the sunshine or on the snow his lovely greyish-

whit.e plumage prevents his being noticed. Some day I hope to have him

in my aviary, and then know more about him than I do at present.


I have said enough. I think, to show that owls can be made delightful

pets. They will sit on your chair and watch you at work. The}' delight to

be rubbed on their ear feathers and underneath their bills, and the person

who handles them carefully and steadily will seldom receive any harm save

a good peck at first. If they are got young, and often handled and fed by

the same person, they will quickly get tame.



Abridged from the Boys' Own Paper.



