The Barred Owl at Rhinebeck, N. Y. 



By MAUNSELL S. CROSBY 



WHEN I first came to Rhinebeck, in 1895, Screech Owls were the only 

 common Owls and could be heard calling every evening. In winter, 

 an occasional Sno^^y Owl was shot by village "sportsmen," and 

 once or twice a Great Horned Owl was reported to me, although I never 

 saw one myself. One autumn, a Short-eared Owl appeared for a week or more, 

 on his way south, appropriated and beheaded a hen, and feasted nightly on 

 her dwindling remains. 



It was in 1901 that I heard the first Barred Owls. They came in March, 

 and at once made themselves noticed by their loiid hooting and hissing. I 

 presume they were fortunate in rearing a brood, for they returned in 1902, and 

 chose a dilapidated barn en my place for their nesting-site. I had never before 

 heard of such a site being used, especially as there were no trees very near, and, 

 as I was away at the time, I questioned the fact, but was assured of its truth 



■■^JNHi!.J- "™ 8 " ""^ 



by several of my men. On my return, I heard that a laborer had killed the 

 mother bird, when he found her in the hay-loft, and had brought three 

 owlets, fully feathered but unable to fly, to my farmer, who fed them on raw 

 meat until I came to take charge of them. One fell off the Hmb of a tree where 

 he had been put, and died from the effects, but the other two lived and throve. 

 I kept them in a large stone barn and fed them on raw meat, mice, and young 

 English Sparrows. Although these were always dead when I brought them, the 



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