58

1916.

97. Screech Owl. At either end of our old barn, just under the
projecting peak of its gable roof, is a heart-shaped opening about
12 inches high by 8 wide, cut by my orders years ago in the hope
that Swallows might make use of it - which thus far they have
failed to do. Passing that way about 9 A.M. on May 15 [May 15, 1916] I happened
to glance at the aperture opening westward and at once perceived that
it was occupied by a gray Screech Owl, sitting part upright, with ears erect,
gazing dreamily through half-closed eyes out into brilliant sunshine.
Thus engaged he was to be seen almost daily & at any hour, from the date
just mentioned to June 12 [June 12, 1916], in one or the other opening but sometimes
he retired to a rafter within the barn and occasionally could not
be found anywhere in the building or its neighborhood. His choice of
a diurnal perch did not seem to be much governed by weather conditions
for he showed himself in the openings quite as freely, and for hours 
at a time, when the sun was shining brightly as when the sky
was clouded - although most given to doing so, perhaps, in the
early morning and late afternoon. With the oncoming of evening
twilight one might see him glide forth on silent wing to spread 
terror & dismay among our nesting Robins who followed him
hither & thither through orchard and woodland protesting his unwelcome 
presence with clamorous outcry. Nor did it fail to give similar
concern to the Phoebees [Phoebes] who for unnumbered years have nested in
the cellar beneath the old barn. To the best of my knowledge & belief
he never once molested any of these birds or their young but that
cannot be said with equal confidence regarding his mate
a red Owl with a brood of young occupying a hollow oak
trunk standing to the rear of, & scarce thirty yards from, the barn.
Of her & their presence so near at hand I had no knowledge
or even suspicion until May 26 [May 26, 1916] when she flew low & close
past me to the oak carrying in her bill a hairless, featherless