42 BIRDS OF PREY 



it frequently finds its way into captivity. In hunting it is 

 so courageous and determined that frequently it catches 

 aviary birds through wire netting, and kills and devours them 

 through meshes only one inch square. 



The Great Gray Owl^ is the largest member of this 

 Family found in the New World. It is an arctic bird, one- 

 fourth larger than the great horned owl, and even in winter 

 has never wandered farther south than the Ohio River. In 

 Alaska and British Columbia it inhabits the timbered regions, 

 and does not wander far into the treeless Barren Grounds. 

 Any one who captures a very large owl of a dusky-brown or 

 dusky-gray color, larger than a great horned owl, but with no 

 ear-tufts, may know that he has secured a specimen of the rare 

 and handsome Great Gray Owl. 



The Saw- Whet Owl^ is a very small Owl, and so shy that 

 few people ever see it; but it feeds almost exclusively upon 

 mice, and any bird which wages perpetual war on those pests 

 deserves honorable mention in these pages. In appearance 

 it looks very much like a small gray -phase screech owl without 

 ears. It may be looked for — but it will seldom be found — 

 almost anywhere in the United States from the international 

 boundary to the Gulf states and California. 



The Screech Owl^ — with an awful shiver in its voice, 

 but no screech whatever — is so widely distributed, and so 

 easily affected by climatic variations, that the original species 

 has been split up into eight varieties, or subspecies. Thus we 

 now have the Texas, California, Rocky Mountain, Mexican 



1 Sco-ti-ap'tex neb-u-lo'sa. Length, 25 to 30 inches. 

 ^ Nyc'ta-la a-ca'di-ca. Length, 8 inches. 

 ' Meg'as-cops a'si-o. Length, 7 to 9 inches. 



