THE WHITE OWL. 
89 
yards, and at a very low elevation. If observed, it seeks the nearest covert, and dives s< 
deeply among the brushwood that it is not easily seen, and cannot be driven out if the covert 
SHORT-EARED OWL .— Otus brachyotus. 
should be of any great extent. Its food consists chiefly of mice and birds ; and Mr. Yarrell 
mentions that he has discovered in the stomach of a Short-eared Owl the remains of a bat and 
a half -grown rat. 
The Great Gray Owl ( Ulula cinerea). This is much the largest of American Owls, 
indeed of any known species. Its total length is thirty inches ; extent of wing, about forty 
inches. This is properly an arctic bird. It has been rarely captured, or seen in New England 
or the Northern States. The small size of its eyes indicate its diurnal habit. The feet are 
small, also, which naturally point to adaptation for small prey. The head has the appearance 
of being unusually large ; the plumage has, however, a large share of the space. 
The Barred Owl (Sf/rix nebulosa ) is quite nearly related to the preceding. It has the 
same soft, cinereous plumage. Its habitat is throughout New England, west to Missouri, and 
south to the Bio Grande. It is remarkable for its soft, rapid, and noiseless flight ; the great 
breadth of wings giving it extraordinary power. In the South it is called the Hoot Owl. 
There are twenty-six species of Owls in North America, besides several varieties having 
variations of marking, and differing somewhat in size. 
The best known of the Owls is the White, Barn, or Screech Owl, by either of which 
appellations the bird is familiarly known everywhere. 
This delicately colored and soft-plumed bird is always found near human habitations, and 
is generally in the vicinity of farm-yards, where it loves to dwell, not for the sake of devouring 
the young poultry, but of eating the various mice which make such havoc in the ricks, fields, 
and barns. The ‘‘feathered cat,” as this bird has happily been termed, is a terrible foe to 
mice, especially to the common field-mouse, great numbers of which are killed daily by a single 
pair of Owls when they are bringing up their young family. In the evening dusk, when the 
mice begin to stir abroad in search of a mole, the Owl starts in search of the mice, and with 
noiseless flight quarters the ground in a sportsmanlike and systematic manner, watching with 
Vox., n.— 12. 
