8 
NOTES ON BIRDS IN CONFINEMENT 
Nyctea nyctea 
in watching him. I then went up stairs and. returned an hour 
later. The cage had been dragged five or six feet from its 
original position and was tipped over. One of the rats was 
missing, the other three alive and showing no signs of in 
jury. I killed them and put them together on the floor. The 
Owl quickly pounced on one, seized its head in its bill, and 
bit it repeatedly and savagely, making a loud crunching soon., 
and apparently crushing the skull. He then took the head in 
his mouth and by a succession of vigorous gulps swallowed 
the rat who 1 e . The other rats were quickly dealt with in a 
precisely similar manner . 
l iay 1 5. Bird still in good health. Warm days do not seem 
to cause him any suffering whatever. The three turtles are 
still living in a tub in his pen. To-day I gave him a dead 
English Sparrow an old bird. He crunched the skull and 
then swallowed the bird whole, head first. I then gave him 
five young Sparrows about two -thirds grown , living". He 
pounced on them all in succession as they were put in one 
after another. The stroke of his foot seemed to kill them 
instantly. He ate all of them whole and the majority with- 
out iirst crunching the skull, A few weeks ago he picked 
a Sparrow(with his bill) rather carefully before eating it. 
