NOTES ON BIRDS IN CONFINEMENT . 
Nyctea nyctea. 
Belles says that I feed him too much. The Barred Owls are 
only fed once a week and one of them has eaten notning be- 
sides two mice in the last six weeks. 
1891 . 
March IQ t Receive another Snowy Owl through Era zar Bros. 
It comes from Deer Island, Boston Harbor, and has been in 
captivity for some time. Erazar tells me that its former 
owner has fed it largely on live rats which it catches and 
kills with great certainty and address. It is colored much 
like my first bird, but it is considerably larger and decid- 
edly tamer, never flying when I approach and submitting its 
head to be scratched with evident pleasure, although it 
threatens and blows a little. I name it Aurora and the first 
bird Boreas. 
It is curious how widely the two differ in many ways. 
Aurora, although apparently of gentler and more phlegmatic 
disposition than Boreas ,, is a bird of finer, more digni- 
fied appearance, assuming habitually the conventional atti- 
tude of a mounted Owl, and occasionally sitting so erect that 
the line of the back is nearly vertical. Her eyes also have 
a different expression, caused apparently by the fact that 
the pupils, although constantly contracting and dilating, 
are invariably smaller than those of Boreas. 
The first meeting of these owls was singularly un- 
eventful. They hardly looked at one another, and neither 
showed the slightest interest, curiosity or fear concerning 
its new acquaintance. 
March I 4 t The Owls having had nothing to eat for four 
days, I threw a dead Sparrow into their cage this evening 
just as it was getting dark. Aurora ogled it for a' raoment, 
oscillating her head after the manner of all Owls, then, 
opening her wings, gave a single j^ow^ful^ f lap , at the same 
time springing iorward and upward^ and came down squarely with 
both feet on the Sparrow. The distance covered by this leap 
was about four feet. Without further delay, the Owl standing 
on the Sparrow, body crouched, tail spread, and wings droop 
ing, began to tear and crunch with her bill. She was inter- 
rupted, however, by Boreas who, uttering a succession of 
shrill, squealing cries very like those of a young Cooper's 
