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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Formerly it was thought that owls were 

 allied to hawks and falcons, but on careful 

 study it was found that these two groups 

 differ radically in structure. The resem- 

 blances are superficial and are due to the 

 form of the beak and claws, which have 

 undergone similar development from seek- 

 ing the same kinds of foods. 



Most owls are nocturnal and by day sleep 

 in caves, hollow trees, tangles of leaves, or 

 whatever may offer protection. When they 

 are found by other birds, there is high ex- 

 citement, jays, cardinals, and the like gath- 

 ering to scold and chatter at these enemies 

 of the night. Crows are more aggressive 

 and often drive the largest owls to seek 

 more secure cover where they may avoid 

 their cawing tormentors. 



The homes of owls are located in hollows 

 of trees, caverns in rocks, or in stick nests 

 built by hawks, crows, or other birds. Often 

 no nesting material of any kind is used. The 

 eggs are white, occasionally tinted with buff 

 or pale blue, but without markings, and are 

 peculiar in being usually elliptical or nearly 

 round. The young are covered with white 

 down and remain in the nest under care of 

 the parents for a considerable time. 



QUICK TO DEFEND THEIR FAMILIES 



In defense of their young, owls are often 

 aggressive and swoop at any and all who 

 chance to pass, sometimes with startling 

 effect when the attack is delivered without 

 warning. A friend climbing to the nest of 

 a great horned owl (page 228) was struck 

 so savagely in the back by one of the par- 

 ents that the strong talons of the bird drew 

 blood through his heavy clothing. 



While walking at dusk near a woodland 

 camp in eastern Kansas, I was startled by 

 something that, without warning, struck my 

 bare head. The aggressor was a little 

 screech owl (see page 233) with a family of 

 young near by. At other times I have had 

 owls knock off my hat, assisted no doubt 

 by my involuntary flinching as the bird 

 brushed past. In Puerto Rico, country 

 people informed me gravely that a native 

 owl stole the hats of persons who walked 

 the trails at night and carried them off to 

 use them for nests, a superstition probably 

 based on attacks such as those described. 



All owls have soft plumage composed of 

 long, fluffy feathers. The wings have sof- 

 tened margins, so that in flight the birds 

 move without sound, as if they were shad- 

 ows. In owls, the lower leg, or tarsus, and 



upper surfaces of the toes, bare in most 

 birds, are covered with feathers, these being 

 reduced or absent only in a few species 

 that inhabit warm countries. The plumage 

 colors run usually to gray, brown, and buff, 

 with lighter markings of buff and gray. 

 White and black are extensive in some, but 

 brighter colors are rare or absent. 



Some of the smaller owls have rounded 

 markings on the back of the head, resem- 

 bling eyes. In South America the country 

 people told me these birds were "four eyes" 

 and could see behind as well as ahead (see 

 page 240). 



WHY THE APPARENTLY ROTATING HEAD 

 DDES NOT TWIST OFF 



The eyes of owls are fixed so immovably 

 in the head, where both are directed for- 

 ward, that the bird must change the posi- 

 tion of the head to alter its line of vision. 

 They are especially large and are adapted 

 for vision where there is little light. As a 

 very small boy, I was told that an owl, sit- 

 ting on a perch, would follow with its eyes 

 a person moving around and around it, 

 until eventually its neck was wrung and 

 its head was twisted off. 



Opportunity arose to test out this in- 

 triguing theory on a Florida screech owl, 

 perched in a low pine, and I walked around 

 it for some time with its eyes steadily on me. 

 As its head did not fall off, I was completely 

 mystified, but later, at a somewhat mature 

 age, in other experiments of this kind, I de- 

 tected the quick movement by which the owl 

 snaps its head around rapidly, giving the 

 semblance of continuous motion in one di- 

 rection. 



Though the majority of owls remain hid- 

 den in shaded, secluded places by day, there 

 are a few that are abroad by day or by night 

 indifferently. This is true of the snowy owl, 

 which lives in summer through the long 

 Arctic day, and of the burrowing owls of 

 open country in the New World (see pages 

 229, 237). One of the latter that I had in 

 captivity for some time delighted in resting 

 in the sun, and in broad daylight would de- 

 tect and watch hawks and other birds flying 

 at such great heights that I could barely see 

 them. 



AN owl's MENU HAS A WIDE RANGE 



Owls live mostly on animal food which 

 is captured alive, except that occasionally 

 they feed upon rabbits freshly killed by 

 automobiles along our highways, or upon 



