AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. ^^ 2of 



As darkness renders observation difficult we leave the birds unmo- 

 lested, but if we return tomorrow afternoon we may find the owl's nest 

 in a hollow limb of the old apple tree. You may then put in your hand 

 and draw out one of the sleepy parents who appears as if stupefied. 

 In the nest are three little downy white owl chicks, with a dead mouse 

 lying by them all ready for the evening meal. Now if you replace the 

 parent bird in the nest and come again at sunset you may be able to 

 observe the owls closely, but their anxiety for their young will prob" 

 ably prevent them from hunting in your presence. At dusk they fly 

 from tree to tree, standing motionless and staring between whiles. 

 You have already noticed that one is red and the other gray, and are . 

 wondering which is the mother and which the father bird, but this var- 

 iation of color has no relation to sex or age. The Screech Owl is a 

 bird of two colors. It is merely a case of dichromatism for which we 

 cannot account. 



As the gray bird alights on a limb and faces the western sky, the 

 dying light illuminates its breast making its front appear like the face 

 of an old man with a long gray beard and staring yellow eyes, but 

 with horns growing from the forehead. The effect of the illusion is 

 rather startling. The streaks upon either side of the breast, tend- 

 ing toward a point near the centre, outline the beard which gives the 

 bird a venerable appearance. This illusion is perfect only when the 

 bird faces you in the half light of early evening with both head and 

 breast to the front. The lines indicating the beard may be seen in 

 the accompanying illustration of an adult bird in gray plumage, page 

 197, but the effect is not visible as the breast is in shadow and the 

 head slightly turned. Now that we have found the young owls it will 

 be interesting to watch their growth. They are covered with down, 

 at first, like a young chicken but are not able to run about or shift 

 for themselves. On the contrary they are quite feeble. At first they 

 grow slowly but as the days go on and the coat of down is replaced by 

 one of feathers the little birds increase rapidly in size and strength 

 until some evening you will find the nest empty and the comical little 

 fellows will be found perhaps sitting about on the branches as shown 

 in the group. From the time they leave the nest they are usually in 

 company and generally the old birds are not far away. I have never 

 known these owls to congregate in flocks larger than one family, but 

 I am informed that a lady in Westport, Mass., some time about 1847, 

 hearing an "awful noise" one evening, near the house, went out and 

 found twenty-five or thirty of these owls sitting on her clothesline and 

 the posts to which it was attached. These owls are said to have re- 

 mained about the neighborhood for a month. One evening they alight- 



