83 



RED OWL. 

 STRIX ASIO. 

 [Plate XLIL— Fig. 1, Female.] 



Little Owh Catesb. I, 7.— Latham, I, 123.— Linn. Syst, 132,— Arct. ZooL II, Mo. 117. 

 TuRT. St/St. I, p. 166.— Pe ale's Museum, Ab. 428, 



THIS is another of our nocturnal wanderers, well known by 

 its common name, the Little Screech Owl; and noted for its melan- 

 choly quivering kind of wailing in the evenings, particularly to- 

 wards the latter part of summer and autumn, near the farm house. 

 On clear moonlight nights they answer each other from various 

 parts of the fields or orchard; roost during the day in thick ever- 

 greens, such as cedar, pine, or juniper trees, and are rarely seen 

 abroad in sunshine. In May they construct their nest in the hol- 

 low of a tree, often in the orchard in an old apple tree ; the nest is 

 composed of some hay and a few feathers ; the eggs are four, pure 

 white and nearly round. The young are at first covered with a 

 whitish down. 



The bird represented on the plate I kept for several weeks in 

 the room beside me. It was caught in a barn, where it had taken 

 up its lodging, probably for the greater convenience of mousing; 

 and being unhurt, I had an opportunity of remarking its manners. 

 .At first it struck itself so forcibly against the window as frequently 

 to deprive it, seemingly, of all sensation for several minutes ; this 

 was done so repeatedly that I began to fear that either the glass or 

 the Owl's skull must give way. In a few days, however, it either 

 began to comprehend something of the matter, or to take disgust 

 at the glass, for it never repeated its attempts ; and soon became 

 quite tame and familiar. Those who have seen this bird only in 



