SHADOWY BIRDS OF THE NIGHT 



219 



Photograph by Ben East 

 THE BARN OWL MAY BE RECOGNIZED BY ITS HEART-SHAPED FACE 



Naturalists have classed barn owls under one family, while all other owls are members of 

 another. This one brooded nearly ninety days over a clutch of ten eggs that failed to hatch. Then, 

 after pushing them from the nest, she laid others and raised a family of four. 



other carcasses. Mice, rats, and other small 

 mammals are regular prey, as are birds of 

 various species. 



The barred owl eats many crayfish and 

 fish, while crabs and fish are staple foods 

 of the fish owls of Africa and India, which 

 have featherless legs and rough, horny-sur- 

 faced toes to assist in capturing such slip- 

 pery prey. I have known the great horned 

 owl to capture goldfish in ornamental pools, 

 but this is unusual. 



Owls, like hawks, tear their prey apart 

 and swallow the pieces entire. During 

 digestion the flesh is assimilated, while 

 bones, fur, feathers, and other indigestible 

 portions are formed into compact pellets, 

 which are regurgitated to leave the stomach 

 empty for another meal. Such pellets ac- 

 cumulate about roosts and, through identi- 

 fication of the bones contained, give a 



valuable index to the food of the bird 

 concerned. 



The great horned owls and snowy owls 

 are fiercely predatory, killing rabbits, squir- 

 rels, and other creatures of good size. The 

 former has been known to capture and eat 

 small owls. In the Dominican Republic I 

 once saw a burrowing owl tearing at the 

 body of a young bird of its own kind which 

 had been killed and thrown aside by some 

 native. While the mind of a bird may be 

 known only by inference, it was my impres- 

 sion that the owl had been attracted by the 

 sight of bloody flesh, and that the cannibal- 

 ism was involuntary, the bird being without 

 recognition that its prey was a creature of 

 its own kind. 



Occasionally wild mice increase for vari- 

 ous reasons until they form a veritable 

 plague. Under such circumstances short- 



