Birds of Prey 



Horned and Hoot Owls 



(Family BubonidceJ 



Like the osprey in the hawlc group, owls have a peculiarly 

 flexible, reversible hind toe; eyes not capable of being rolled but 

 set firmly in the soclcets, necessitating the turning of the head to 

 see in different directions; feathered discs around the eyes; 

 loose, mottled plumage, some species with feathered ear tufts 

 (horns), others without; hooked beaks and muscular feet for 

 perching and for grasping prey: — these are their chief charac- 

 teristics. Birds of the woodland, more rarely of grassy marshes 

 and plains, nearly all nocturnal in habits, since their food con- 

 sists mostly of small mammals that steal abroad at night to 

 destroy the farmer's crops, the owls are among the most val- 

 uable of birds to the agriculturist. Unless too large, the prey 

 is bolted entire — the hair, claws, bones, etc., being afterward 

 ejected in matted pellets. 



American Long-eared Owl 



American Short-eared Owl 



Barred or Hoot Owl 



Saw-whet or Acadian Owl 



Screech Owl 



Great Horned Owl 



Snowy Owl 



American Hawk Owl 



Burrowing Owl 



303 



