THE WHITE OWL. 



89 



yards, and at a very low elevation. If observed, it seeks the nearest covert, and dives s< 

 deeply among the brushwood that it is nut easily seen, and cannot be driven out if the covert 



mfflr m 



m 







SHORT-EARED OWL.— Ota brachyotus. 



should be of any great extent. Its food consists chiefly of mice and birds: and Mr. Yarrell 

 mentions that he has discovered in the stomach of a Short-eared Owl the remains of a bat and 

 a half -grown rat. 



The Great Gray Owl ( Ulula cinerea). Tins is much the largest of American Owls, 

 indeed of any known species. Its total length is thirty inches ; extent of wing, about forty 

 inches. This is properly an arctic bird. It has been rarely captured, or seen in New England 

 or the Northern States. The small size of its eyes indicate its diurnal habit. The feet are 

 small, also, which naturally point to adaptation for small prey. The head has the appearance 

 of being unusually large ; the plumage has, however, a large share of the space. 



The Barred Owl (Strix nebulosa) is quite nearly related to the preceding. It has the 

 same soft, cinereous plumage. Its habitat is throughout New England, west to Missouri, and 

 south to the Rio Grande. It is remarkable for its soft, rapid, and noiseless night ; the great 

 breadth of wings giving it extraordinary power. In the South it is called the Hoot Owl. 



There are twenty-six species of Owls in North America, besides several varieties having 

 variations of marking, and differing somewhat in size. 



The best known of the Owls is the White, Bark, or Screech Owl, by either of which 

 appellations the bird is familiarly known everywhere. 



This delicately colored and soft-plumed bird is always found near human habitations, and 

 is generally in the vicinity of farm-yards, where it loves to dwell, not for the sake of devouring 

 the young poultry, but of eating the various mice which make such havoc in the ricks, fields, 

 and barns. The "feathered cat," as this bird has happily been termed, is a terrible foe to 

 mice, especially to the common field-mouse, great numbers of which are killed daily by a single 

 pair of Owls when they are bringing up their young family. In the evening dusk, when the 

 mice begin to stir abroad in search of a mole, the Owl starts in search of the mice, and with 

 noiseless flight quarters the ground in a sportsmanlike and systematic manner, watching with 



Vol. II.— 12. 



