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-ow-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; tail 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 — ^United States, rarely reaching Canada, south to 

 Mexico, nesting from New York State southward. 



Season — ^Permanent resident, except at northern Umit of 

 range. 

 {See flate, 'page 179.) 



The American counterpart of "wise Minerva's only 

 fowl," known best by its startling 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 barn 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 



