7 2 Bird Life Stories 



in different individuals, as I have seen some of a deep choco- 

 late color and others nearly black. The feathers change their 

 colors as the season advances, and in the first spring the bird 

 is in its perfect dress. 



The Mottled Owl rests or spends the day either in a hole 

 of some decayed tree, or in the thickest part of the evergreens 

 which are found so abundantly in the country to which it 

 usually resorts during the nesting season, as well as in the 

 depth of winter. 



The flight of the Mottled Owl is smooth, rapid, protracted 

 and noiseless. It rises at times above the top branches of the 

 highest of our forest trees whilst in pursuit of large beetles, 

 and at other times sails low and swiftly over the fields or 

 through the woods in search of small birds, field mice, moles 

 or wood rats from which it chiefly derives its subsistence. On 

 alighting, which it does plumply, the Owl immediately bends 

 its body, turns its head to look behind it, performs a curious 

 nod, utters its notes, then shakes and plumes itself and 

 resumes its flight in search of prey. 



Geographical Distribution 



The common form of the Screech-owl is found in the eastern 

 portions of the United States and Canada, south as far as Georgia and 

 west as far as the Great Plains. In other parts of North America 

 there are closely related varieties. This Owl, like the rest of its 

 family, swallows its food whole, and ejects afterward the indigestible 

 portions in the shape of pellets formed of the bones wrapped in fur 

 or feathers. 



