The Owl Birds 
Usually the plumage of the owl is brown and 
speckled, and is very protective. During the day 
these birds like to retreat into the thick foliage and 
sit there humped upon the branches, and they look 
more like great knots or broken branches than like 
living creatures. The owls are devoted lovers, and 
remain paired for life. 
The cry of the owl is a blood-curdling sound, and 
undoubtedly serves to startle timid little creatures 
into activity, and thus give the owl information as 
to their location. One morning before daylight, I 
was lying awake in our summer camp in the woods, 
when I heard a screech-owl hoot, and then a scamper 
in the dry leaves followed; the owl came nearer and 
perched on a stump and hooted again; there was 
another rustle in the leaves, and the owl pounced 
upon the spot, and I heard a squeak of terror on the 
part of the mouse. I was convinced that the owl 
hooted that time to make sure of the whereabouts of 
its victim. 
The digestive system of the owl is peculiar, and 
needs to be, considering the bird’s table manners. It 
swallows its prey as nearly whole as possible, and 
lets the stomach do the work of selecting what is 
nourishing and rejecting what is not. Thus the 
hair of mice, and of other small animals, feathers of 
birds and the bones of both are rolled together into 
pellets in the stomach and are later thrown up. 
As a pet, the owl is not an attractive cage bird. It 
is very difficult to keep the cage clean, and almost 
impossible to keep it from becoming smelly; more- 
over, these birds eat so much that it requires a great 
deal of time and attention to feed them. But of all 
the owls, the little screech-owl is the most interesting 
and the least trouble, since it will not attack grown 
poultry if given freedom to fly about the premises. 
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