Owls BIRDS OP PREY. 



sent as curiosities from some other place, they are invariably 

 known as Witch Owls. 



The Barred Owl is a noisy species and announces his 

 presence in no gentle way. It is supposed to be shy and 

 to love deep woods, but last fall a pair lived for a month or 

 more in the garden evergreens, appearing towards evening 

 and being especially active in the late dawns. I have a 

 very perfect specimen of a female shot in the winter of 

 1893, near the barn where it was perching in an elm, at four 

 o'clock in the afternoon, after having artfully harried a flock 

 of tame Juncos ; but now that their usefulness has been 

 made plain, we no longer shoot Owls indiscriminately. 



Saw-whet Owl : Nyctala acadica. 



Acadian Owl. 



Length : 7.50-8 inches. Smallest Owl of eastern United States. 

 Male and Female : No ear tufts. Above brown, spotted more or less 



with lighter brown and white. Striped beneath with rusty 



brown. Legs feathered, buffy white. Bill black, claws dark. 

 Note : A rasping cry resembling the filing of a saw (hence the name 



Saw- whet) and a clicking noise like "Tlee-Klee, Tlee-Klee I" 

 Season : A winter resident, locally common in the Eastern and 



Middle States. Rare here. 

 Breeds : From Massachusetts and New York northward. 

 Nest : In old stumps. 

 Eggs : 3-6, white and nearly round. 

 Range : North America at large, breeding from the Northern States 



northward. 



The Saw-whet is a night Owl and spends most of the 

 daylight hours in sleepy seclusion. This, together with its 

 small size, makes it pass as rare in places where it is really 

 a winter resident. 



There are many stories told of the soundness with which 

 it sleeps, Mr. Eidgway citing a case where one was caught 

 by putting a hat over it as it slept, perched on the edge of a 

 Robin's nest in a dense willow thicket. It is a sociable 

 little Owl, of a cheerful disposition, and is easily tamed, 

 and though it cannot, owing to small size, prey upon many 



21.) 



