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II. Hampe—My Tame Barn Owl



MY TAME BARN OWL


By Helmut Hampe, Brunswick

Illustrations by the Author


In my time I have owned many very tame and charming pet birds

of various species, but the one I loved best of all was a Barn Owl.

It came into my possession while quite young, about nine days old,

and was reared with great care. As I took very great care of it, it

became unusually tame and affectionate. At first, before it could

fly, it used to run after me and later on it would fly after me all through

the house. It would come when called, and its favourite perch was

on my shoulder, and I could pick it up at any time and scratch its

head as if it were a Parrot, while in return it would nibble my hair.


It was civil to my wife on the whole, but by no means as amiable

as it was with me, and once it got angry and bit her, so that she was

not very fond of it, and there was always a certain mistrust on both

sides. The Owl hated strangers ; if it was in its cage, as was usually

the case in the day time, as soon as it saw a visitor it assumed the

threatening attitude with spread wings and ruffled plumage, moved its

sunk head from side to side, snapping its beak, and flew at the face

of the unwelcome guest. Although the wires were between them, and

in consequence no harm could happen, this always startled the visiter

and made him draw back quickly. If the Owl was loose in the room

when a stranger came in, it would fly up to the curtain rod and perch

there quietly, as if it was not in any way concerned with the visitor.

But when he was quietly chatting and had forgotten all about the

bird, it would suddenly fly down on to his head, claw him furiously,

and return to its safe perch before the injured party rightly understood

what had taken place. But as this resulted in severe scratches, and

once nearly injured an eye, we were obliged to shut up the Owl when¬

ever anyone came to see us, and for that matter people always inquired

if the Owl was at liberty, and if the answer was in the affirmative,

they would not come in. Once only did the Owl fly at my face as

I passed it wearing my dress clothes. This, however, was purely by

mistake, because it did not recognize me in this unusual costume, for



