THE HORNED OWL FAMILY 



221 



can judge of the value or lack of value of this 

 bird to the country at large. It does not seem 

 as if the forty-six mice are a fair equivalent for 

 the useful birds and small mammals destroyed. 



Dr. Fisher's conclusion is as follows: "If a 

 fair balance be struck, it must be considered 

 that this Owl is on the whole beneficial, and 

 hence should occupy a place in the list of birds 

 to be protected." 



The Barred Owl is next in size to the great 

 horned owl. It is from 20 to 22 inches long, 

 heavy-bodied, round-headed, and quite with- 

 out "horns," or "ears." Its head, neck and 

 breast are marked by many black horizontal 

 bars on a gray or creamy-white ground, and the 

 breast and abdomen have a few thick, perpen- 

 dicular bars. Many times a big Barred Owl of 

 my acquaintance has exclaimed to me through 

 the darkness, in a fearfully hollow and sepul- 

 chral voice, — "Who? Who-who-who-who-w/id- 

 WHO? Ah!" It is like the war-cry of an angry 

 ghost. 



This bird ranges throughout the eastern half 

 of the United States, and westward almost to 

 the Rocky Mountains; and it frequently finds 

 its way into captivity. 



The Great Gray Owl 1 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 wan- 

 dered farther south than the Ohio River. In 

 Alaska and British Columbia it inhabits the tim- 

 bered regions, and does not wander far into the 

 treeless Barren Grounds. Anyone 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 speci- 

 men of the rare and handsome Great Grav Owl. 

 The Saw-Whet Owl 2 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 inter- 

 national boundary to the Gulf States and Cali- 

 fornia. 



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



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



The Sereech-Owl 3 — with an awful shiver 

 in its voice, but no screech whatever — is so 

 widely distributed, and so easily affected by cli- 

 matic variations, that the original species has 

 been split up into eight varieties, or subspecies. 

 Thus we now have the Texas, California, Rocky 

 Mountain, Mexican, and Florida Screech-Owls, 

 and others too numerous to mention. The dif- 

 ferences between all these are not very great. 

 Let each American know his own Screech-Owl, 

 and study its habits, and he will then know 

 the others, quite well enough for all practical 

 purposes. 



To me, the cry of this little Owl is one of the 

 most doleful sounds in animated nature, not even 

 excepting the howl of a wolf. It is like the 



N. Y Zoological Park. 



SCREECH-OWL. 



quivering, shivering, heart-broken wail of a lost 

 spirit, and suggests chattering teeth and freezing 

 vocal chords. Written out it is "Woe-woe- 

 woe-woe-woe-woe-woe ah!" But no phonetic 

 spelling can even suggest the high-pitched men- 

 tal and physical anguish expressed in the cry 

 that one hears. 



The Screech-Owl is a round-bodied little fel- 

 low, sometimes almost as broad as it is high; 

 and its head is surmounted at the corners by 

 very respectable ears. In its gray phase, this 

 bird looks very much like a dwarf great horned 



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



