X48 THE LITTLE SCREECH OWL. 



gentle when seized, as it will suffer a person to touch its feathers and caress 

 it, without attempting to bite or strike with its talons, unless at rare intervals. 

 I carried one of the young birds represented in the Plate, in my coat pocket, 

 from Philadelphia to New York, travelling alternately by water and by 

 land. It remained generally quiet, fed from the hand, and never attempted 

 to escape. 



The notes of this Owl are uttered in a tremulous, doleful manner, and 

 somewhat resemble the chattering of the teeth of a person under the influence 

 of extreme cold, although much louder. They are heard at a distance of 

 several hundred yards, and by some people are thought to be of ominous 

 import. 



The little fellow is generally found about farm-houses, orchards, and 

 gardens. It alights on the roof, the fence or the garden gate, and utters its 

 mournful ditty at intervals for hours at a time, as if it were in a state of great 

 suffering, although this is far from being the case, the song of all birds being 

 an indication of content and happiness. In a state of confinement, it con- 

 tinues to utter its notes with as much satisfaction as if at liberty. They are 

 chiefly heard during the latter part of winter, that being the season of love, 

 when the male bird is particularly attentive to the fair one which excites his 

 tender emotions, and around which he flies and struts much in the manner 

 of the Common Pigeon, adding numerous nods and bows, the sight of which 

 is very amusing. 



The nest is placed in the bottom of the hollow trunk of a tree, often not 

 at a greater height than six or seven feet from the ground, at other times so 

 high as from thirty to forty feet. It is composed of a few grasses and feathers. 

 The eggs are four or five, of a nearly globular form, and pure white colour. 

 If not disturbed, this species lays only one set of eggs in the season. The 

 young remain in the nest until they are able to fly. At first they are covered 

 with a downy substance of a dull yellowish-white. By the middle of August 

 they are fully feathered, and are then generally of the colour exhibited in 

 the Plate, although considerable difference exists between individuals, as I 

 have seen some of a deep chocolate colour, and others nearly black. The 

 feathers change their colours as the pairing season advances, and in the first 

 spring the bird is in its perfect dress. 



The Mottled Owl rests or spends the day either in a hole of some decayed 

 tree, or in the thickest part of the evergreens which are found so abundantly 

 in the country, to which it usually resorts during the breeding season as well 

 as in the depth of winter. 



The branch on which you see three individuals of this species, an adult 

 bird and two young ones, is that of the Jersey Pine (Pinus inops), a tree of 

 moderate height and diameter, and of a scrubby appearance. The stem is 



