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Bird - Lore 



The feeding habits of Asio were very interesting and repaid the labor of 

 securing his daily fare of mice, which was the favorite food; raw beef or 

 other meat was refused unless the Owl were very hungry. At first only 

 such food was taken as was thrown into the cage, and then only when the 

 Owl was left alone; but after about -ten days' captivity, food was taken from 

 the hand, if the bird were very hungry, but not otherwise. The Owl would 

 look at the proffered meal, first with one eye and then with the other, and 

 finally with a stroke, as quick as a flash of lightning, would catch the food 

 with a foot, usually the left one, but never with the bill; almost instantly 

 the food would be transferred from the foot to the bill. The two move- 

 ments were sometimes so quickly made that it was impossible to follow 

 them with the eye. Mice, no matter how large, were invariably swallowed 

 whole, tail first. Before eating an English Sparrow a portion of the 

 plumage was removed ; first the large feathers of the wings and tail were 

 pulled out, together with some from the back. All the smaller and softer 

 feathers were swallowed. The head was eaten first, followed by the soft 

 portions of the body and finally the breast and wings. All the bones were 

 swallowed, as well as the legs and feet.. 



An attempt was made to associate a Screech Owl in the same cage with 

 the Short-eared Owl, but it proved decidedly unsuccessful and it was impos- 

 sible to determine which of the two Owls was the most frightened. The 

 Screech Owl crouched in one corner of the cage and uttered a series of loyv 

 whistles, while the larger bird jumped from end to end of the cage in a 

 frantic manner, hissing and snapping its bill. Peace and quietness was main- 

 tained only by a separation of the thoroughly frightened Owls. Shortly 

 after this both Owls were taken at night to a clump of pines in Central 

 Park, New York City, where they were liberated, and the last seen of them 

 was their shadowy forms disappearing in the dim light of the stars twinkling 

 through the arches of the grove. 



Study Points for Teachers and Students 



Trace distribution of the Short-eared Owls on the map. Give some of the life-history of Short-eared Owls based 

 on your own observations. What are Shrews? Gophers? What is the meaning of Ochraceous ? Cosmopolitan? 

 Diurnal? Regurgitation? Mandibles? 



Fpr additional valuable information regarding the Short-eared Owls, consult the ref- 

 erence books named in Leaflet No. 8, also "Observations on Owls, with Particular Regard 

 to their Feeding Habits," American Naturalist, July, 1899. 



