Farmer neighbors and bird-loving friends from 
various distances came to viev; the male while he was fre¬ 
quenting the old barn and were much impressed by his 
statuesque poses and by the subdued beauty of his soft gray 
plumage. He was seen to best advantage when sitting in one 
or the other of the apertures just under the gable roof, 
fully exposed to outer daylight, yet backed by murky 
shadows within the building, and shovfing every detail of 
form, color and marking with admirable distinctness. Thus 
environed he would not infrequently suggest a realistic 
painting of such a bird, set in abeart-shaped frame of 
weathered wood, or perhaps a. well-mounted specimen simi¬ 
larly. displayed. At first he vrould compress his body 
plumage to the utmost and bring his eyelids together in 
such a way as to reduce the spaces between them to narrow 
vertical slits, whenever he was conscious of close human 
observation, but it soon ceased to give him any obvious 
concern or to deter him from ga.zing long and abstractedly, 
through wide-opened eyes, out into brilliant sunshine, 
however many people might be moving about and talking on 
the gro\ind beneath. His feathered ear fufts invariably 
stood erect, with their tips scarce an inch apart. We 
thought them longer, narrower and more acutely pointed 
than those of most Screech Owls and wondered how they could 
be kept in such immaculate order — each with gently- 
tapering outlines exactly matching those of the other and 
never anywhere a misplaced or rumpled feather. Very 
