180 BIRDS 



those of the latter." The most common cry of the long- 

 eared owl, the one that has given it its popular name, is a 

 prolonged me-aw-ow-ow, so like a cat's cry that it would 

 seem folly for a bird that lives chiefly on mice to utter it. 



The Barn Owl 



Length — 15 to 18 inches; female the larger, 



Male and Female — Upper parts mottled gray and buff 

 finely speckled with black and white; heart-shaped facial 

 disks and under parts whitish or buff, the latter with 

 small round black spots; taU white or buff, mottled with 

 black, and sometimes with three or four narrow black 

 bars like the wings; eyes small, black; no horns; long, 

 feathered legs; long, pointed wings reaching beyond tail. 



Range— TJnited States, rarely reaching Canada, south to 

 Mexico, nesting from New York State southward. 



Season — ^Permanent resident, except at northern Umit of 

 range. 



The American counterpart of "wise Minerva's only 

 fowl," known best by its startUng scream, keeps its odd, 

 triangular face, its speckled and mottled downy feathers, 

 and its body, that looks more slender than it really is, 

 owing to its long wings, well concealed by day; and so 

 silently does it move about at night that only in the moon- 

 light can one hope for a passing glimpse as the bam owl 

 sails about on a wide-spread tapering monoplane, and with 

 a hawk-like movement, from tree to tree. " The face looks 

 like that of a toothless, hooked-nosed old woman, shrouded 

 in a closely fitting hood," says Mrs. Wright, "and has a 



