310 The Screech Owl 



could take these birds to a man in Orange who would 

 pay at least six ox eight dollars for them. 



I pitied the little birds — they were screech owls— 

 and offered the man what I considered to be a moder- 

 ate sum for them. He accepted the offer very 

 quickly, although it was considerably less than he 

 had said he could get for them in Orange. 



I carried them home in a paper box, and arranged 

 temporary quarters for them, until I could construct 

 something better. I gave each of them an English 

 sparrow, which I fancied was more to their liking 

 than bread and milk; nor did they need to be urged 

 to eat, but eagerly began their feast at once. 



We gave them appropriate names, corresponding to 

 sex as indicated by their former owner, calUng the 

 larger one "Billy" and the smaller one "Betty." 

 They were rather large to thoroughly tame, but I 

 handled them quite a little, and soon Betty appeared 

 to enjoy it and became very friendly, but Billy would 

 sometimes protest strongly with a hissing noise, 

 similar to the prolonged sound of the letter a in 

 care, accompanied by a snapping of his beak. Betty 

 became so tame that my little daughter could scratch 

 the owl's head, and it would have been difficult to 

 tell from the appearance which one enjoyed it the 

 more. 



