SILENT-WiXGED OWLS OF NORTH AMERIC. 



UCA 



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0/arf /Srti>-irs 



© National Geographic Society ^ 



LET RATS AND MICE BEWARE THESE OWLS' SHARP TALONS 1 



When the author analyzed more than a thousand disgorged pellets of a pair of barn owls 

 (top) nesting in a tower of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, he discovered that they 

 had consumed 2,853 rodents. Because of its characteristic markings, this bird is known to many 

 as the " monkey-faced owl." It and the long-eared owl (left), of catlike face, hunt chiefly 

 at night. Inhabitant of marsh and prairie, the short-eared owl (bottom) has no fear of the sun, 

 being abroad frequently by day. The three represent two families found throughout the United 

 States, the range of the short-eared owl being almost world-wide. 



