226 Bird - Lore 
On a lower shelf from the one they occupied I found four dead mice laid in a 
pile, and I was told that on another occasion they had eight others arranged 
in the same manner. One of the four mice found on the shelf was very large 
for Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord.), and while it may be that species, the 
authorities to whom it has been shown are not sure of its identity. It is now 
in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. 
“On account of their mouse-eating habits these Owls are very useful about 
a barn or farm; for, while the farmer is asleep, they serve him greatly in the 
preservation of his crops, and it has been truly said that during all of their 
wanderings they are aiding mankind, their only enemy. 
“On the occasion of my visit, I collected a number of pellets or rejects of 
these Owls, and there were remains of a great many others near-by. From 
these pellets I have raised the Tineid moth (Trichophaga tapetzella Linn.), 
but I found no Trox beetles, as discovered in pellets found under trees on 
several previous occasions. . . . Dr. Dyar and other authorities regard 
this moth as rare in the United States. 
“On the eleventh of November, with Mr. James Chapin and Mr. Alanson 
Skinner, I visited the Owls for the third time, and, while I climbed to the loft 
my companions stood outside and watched the hole whence the Owls would 
fly. As before, the Owls heard me coming, and one walked out on the perch 
and stood in the light, where my companions could see it well before it flew 
off to a neighboring tree. It was then discovered that another Owl was hiding 
behind one of the rafters, and on two occasions it came from its retreat and 
walked about so that we could examine it closely, but it seemed anxious to 
hide behind a beam rather than to fly out into the daylight. Its gait was 
nervous and jerky, and it would stand for a moment and regard us, and then 
hasten to get behind the beam again. It is certainly a queer-visaged bird, is 
the ‘Monkey-faced’ Owl. It is also sometimes called ‘Golden Owl’, for its 
plumage is very beautiful.” 
It was through the kindness and influence of Mr. Davis that the writer 
was enabled to secure the photographs accompanying this article. 
My several experiences with this pair of Monkey-faced Owls were, with 
perhaps one exception, most enjoyable; and that exception was the fault, 
not of the Owls, but of an ignorant farm hand. I had taken Mr. Clinton G. 
Abbott to the barn, and both of us, equipped with Graflex cameras, hoped to 
photograph the old Owl as she flew from the pigeon-loft. But I had learned 
from previous experiences that some one was obliged to climb the ladder 
inside the cote in order to start the bird from her nest or from her roosting- 
place. We looked about for a suitable third party to perform this necessary 
duty, but, contrary to the general rule, no inquisitive small boy was to be 
seen, and it was with reluctance that we approached one of the farmer’s 
employees. We explained, with as little detail as possible, that, when we had 
scaled the outside wall of the main barn and reached the upper eaves with 
