B Y THE WA YSIDE 
4b 
SCHOOL BRANCH DEPARTMENT 
Every Wisconsin School Branch is required to subscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
Letters for this department should be written on only 
one side of the pagre, should p:ive the name, ape and ad¬ 
dress of the writer, and should be mailed by the first of 
the month; Illinois children sending; to Miss Juliet 
Goodrich, 10 Astor St., Chicago, Ill., and Wisconsin 
children to Miss Ruth Marshall, Appleton, Wis. An 
honor badge will be awarded for each state every month, 
preference being given to letters about the bird study 
for the month (which is always on this page) and to or¬ 
iginal observations. Any child who wins the honor 
badge twice will receive By The Wayside one year as a 
prize. 
The wren button, which is the badge of the Audubon 
Society, costs two cents, and may be bought from Miss 
Goodrich or Miss Marshall. 
Any Wisconsin School Branch may, without expense, 
have the use of the Gordon and Merrill Libraries of bird 
books, by applying to Miss Edna Edwards. Librarian, 
84(> Prospect St'.. Appleton. 
A set of colored bird slides with a typewriter lecture 
may be rented from Prof. W. S. Marshall, 114 E. Gorham 
Street, Madison, Wis. 
Illinois Schools, may use. without expense, a library 
or a lecture with lantern slides, by applying to Mrs. 
Ruthven Deane, 504 N. State St., Chicago. 
The Screech Ortl. 
Mo person can mistake a Screech Owl 
for any other species of Owl. The only 
other species that might possibly be con¬ 
founded with them is the Sawwhet Owl, 
which lacks ear-tufts, is brown, and does 
not have black shaft-lines. A family of 
birds of such wide distribution naturally 
has several common names. The Screech 
Owl is often known as the Red Owl or 
Mottled Owl, probably derived from its 
plumage, or Shivering Owl, undoubtedly 
derived from its notes, and Little Horned 
Owl, from its ear-tufts, and Cat Owl, evi¬ 
dently from the shape of the head. 
In the East, Screech Owls are very fond 
of living in apple orchards, especially if 
the trees have been neglected and are de¬ 
caving, thus furnishing holes in which 
the Owls may breed or hide. The farmer 
who is so fortunate as to have a pair or 
more of Screech Owls attach themselves 
to his orchard, should consider himself 
especially favored, for the good that they 
will do him by keeping in subjection 
the mice pest is beyond calculation. It is 
probabl v a fact that Screech Owls re¬ 
main mated during life, and, as they are 
non-migratory, if they once become at¬ 
tached to a locality, they are apt to re¬ 
main there, unless they are harassed or 
driven away or their home tree is de¬ 
stroyed, and they are compelled to seek 
another, in which case they do not move 
any great distance. 
For this reason they are doublv of 
value to the agriculturist, as they are his 
helpers during the entire year. Their 
prey, the mice, are his yearly tenants, 
and the farmer who is wise will give the 
Screech Owl on his acres a perpetual free 
lease. 
Another feature in the life-history of 
the Screech Owl, that makes it doublv 
valuable, is that it is nocturnal in its 
habits and hunts for food at night when 
all the other birds are at rest. It thus 
complements the day work of the rodent¬ 
eating Hawks,—Nature in her wisdom 
thus providing a continuous check on 
the four-footed vermin of the ground. 
Although the Screech Owls are noc¬ 
turnal by choice, vet they have no diffi¬ 
culty in seeing in the daytime, although 
they then seem stupid and are not at all 
alert and wide-awake as they are after 
sundown. 
During the daytime they hide in holes 
in trees, or in some secluded place in the 
foliage to escape observation. Should 
they be discovered they are apt to be 
mobbed bv other birds, especially Javs. 
The Owls are supposed by many su¬ 
perstitious people to be bird of bad omen; 
this probably arises in the case of 
the Screech Owl from its weird, 
tremulous, shivering, wailing, whistling 
note. To the writer there is a singular 
and fascinating attraction in its notes, 
which are heard in the dusk of early 
