BIRD LEGEND AND LIFE 



the owl, who is forced to be most active then in seeking food. 

 Inactivity comes again with total darkness, when the owl 

 again takes to her perch till the moon rises or dawn brings 

 again the half light that sharpens owl vision. Bright moon- 

 light nights are seasons of especial prosperity to the owls; 

 for it is then that they see best — ^then that they bring most 

 food to the owlets — then that the pellets of beetles' wings, 

 bones, feathers and fur are heaped in the nest, making it 

 more soft and comfortable, for as often as every five minutes 

 the parent birds return to the nest bearing the fruit of their 

 search. Through their agency, every ten or fifteen minutes a 

 destructive mouse goes to his reward, and the hungry owlets 

 in the tree are filled with gustatory gladness. Much food 

 is required by the growing nestlings, and, as they become 

 older, bones and feathers are just as necessary a part of it 

 as the flesh, for it has been proven that owls cannot live on 

 boneless meat. 



Even though food should prove scarce, maternal anxiety 

 and the infant plaints of her babes take the owl home every 

 so often through the night that the safety of her brood may 

 be assured. While parental devotion is at its height, the 

 cares of motherhood are materially lightened'by the imf ailing 

 fidelity of her mate, who does not spend all his time in 

 sapiently staring at the moon, as the poets would have us 

 believe. 



The young family makes just as heavy a draft on his 

 time as on hers. This division of labor is well, for one of 

 them could hardly supply the wants of such a ravenous group 

 for such an extended period as the little ones remain in the 

 nest — ^nine or ten weeks; at least, it is that long before they 

 leave the branches immediately surrounding their home. 



The rising sun causes the owl, with feathers bedraggled 



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