OWL LIFE 



faint sound of parted grasses, or a barely perceptible stir of 

 leaves below, causes her, after a first quiver of excitement, 

 to drop seemingly without motion upon her quarry, when, as 

 it is tightly clasped in her claws, her sharp talons pierce its 

 vitals, causing instant death. 



Her smaller prey she carries to her perch, where, after 

 a moment, it is tossed up with her beak and caught in its 

 descent and swallowed whole. Larger animals, such as 

 young squirrels, chipmimks and gophers, are dismembered 

 and swallowed piecemeal. After a time the indigestible por- 

 tions of all food are ejected in the form of compact pellets 

 or "owl balls." Sometimes as many as a bushel of these are 

 found in and around the nest. 



The dietary range of the owl is not confined entirely to 

 four-footed creatures : the fat beetle and night-flying moths 

 are dainty morsels which she especially values as food for the 

 owlets in the nest. Occasionally young birds are eaten, but 

 not often. In winter, when other food is scarce, she is not 

 averse to young barnyard fowls, for which the owner is amply 

 repaid by the service rendered in ridding the place of mis- 

 chievous vermin. 



As the owl goes on her way — flying low, just above the 

 lower bushes, or close to the ground in the open — her muf- 

 fled wings make no sound. As with noiseless flight she 

 moves forward in sidelong fashion in search of small animals, 

 her gaze is turned on every moonlit spot where they may 

 possibly be feeding, and on every patch of shadow where 

 these tiny refugees, having heard her distant cry, may be 

 claiming the right of sanctuary till her gruesome presence 

 has passed. Aided by silence and partial darkness, the cap- 

 ture of her prey is almost certain. Sometimes, with a fear- 

 some cry, she casts a necromantic spell over these creatures 



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