96 IN BERKSHIRE FIELDS 



and expert examination of the dead birds, the pel- 

 lets, and the nests showed that the owls of this 

 colony had been taking a tremendous toll of rodents 

 and small pests; they had been a positive asset to 

 the surrounding community. 



Many observers maintain that the barred owl 

 (which is somewhat smaller than the great horned, 

 and is often called the "eight-hooter," because his 

 call has eight notes) is now more common than his 

 larger cousin. This is probably true in many, if 

 not most, sections of Massachusetts, though hardly 

 here where I live, I think, in the mountains and 

 close to extensive tracts of woodland. The barred 

 owl is not a robber like the great horned. He lives 

 chiefly on mice and other small mammals, and 

 should be protected. The following note from the 

 illustrator is interesting and vivid. 



"Once I was fishing for bullheads at night on 

 Lake Catherine, near Poultney, Vermont, and I 

 heard a barred owl and answered him. Inside of 

 half an hour I had three in one tree on the edge of 

 the lake; I could even hear them squabbling and 

 flapping among the limbs of the tree. They kept 

 answering me for an hour or more. When I began 

 calling I could hear them approach down the moun- 

 tain by stages — first far off, then nearer, then from 

 the lake margin, and then an interval and the voice 

 would come from the nearer shore, the owl having 

 flown across. It was exciting." 



I fancy that for most Americans the little screech- 

 owl (so called, though he doesn't screech) really in- 

 spires the romance which in Europe is the possession 

 of the barn-owl. That soft, mournful, prolonged 



