io6 The Screech Owl 



sex as indicated by their former owner, calling 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 difi&cult to 

 tell from the appearance which one enjoyed it the 

 more. 



The little owls soon came to know my voice. When 

 I called his name, Billy in particular would give me 

 his peculiar cry of a, even before I was in sight. 

 If he failed to answer, I always tried to get him to 

 ' speak ' before I would give him his portion of food. 

 It was evident that this sound expressed with him 

 more than one thing, and it seemed to me to be dif- 

 ferently accented on different occasions. I did not 

 think at the time that this training would serve in 

 any particular way, except that it woxild probably 

 strengthen certain points that have to do with animal 

 intelligence. Upon arriving home one day, how- 

 ever, I was told that Billy and Betty had escaped, and 

 that, although the basement had been thoroughly 



