utes, seventeen trips to her young with 
food. 
A gentleman living in the West when 
there was so much damage done by 
grasshoppers found that the owls were 
living on them and not eating much of 
any other kind of food. The only way 
he could tell what the owls had for 
supper was to shoot an owl once in 
awhile and see what was in its stomach. 
One barn owl had thirty-nine locusts, 
twenty-two other insects, and one 
mouse which it had just taken. Screech 
owls and burrowing owls usually had 
more than two dozen locusts, and some 
of them had o.ther kinds of insects. 
A rabbit, a weasel, a mink, or even a 
skunk is good eating for the owl. And 
there are times when one owl will make 
a meal of another owl of smaller size. 
A large red-tailed hawk was once put 
into a garret where there was a snowy 
owl. That night the hawk was killed 
and partly eaten by the owl. A tame 
great horned owl and a little screech 
owl were shut up in a hay loft together. 
The wings of the big owl were cut so 
he could not fly. After about a week 
they both became one owl, and that 
owl threw up the claws, beak, bones, 
and feathers which had once been use- 
ful to the little screech owl. 
Owls sometimes catch partridges and 
quails. This is not so bad, for they 
pick out the weak birds that are not 
well, and so keep disease from spread- 
ing among the fine birds. A hunter 
once shot a bob white so that it was 
not killed but could not fly. He and 
his dog were chasing the bird in the 
grrass along a fence hoping to catch it. 
An owl saw the wounded bird and 
thought it belonged to him because it 
was not well. He came out of the woods 
very swiftly and picked up the bob 
white right before the eyes of the 
hunter. 
In woods where there are panthers 
one will often hear in the night fearful 
cries that make it seem as if some wild 
beast were about to jump down from 
some tree near by to kill the one who 
is out so late. Most of these cries 
which frighten people so are made by 
hoot owls. But it is not easy to tell 
whether the sound comes from a hoot 
owl or from the throat of a wild cat. 
There is a saying among country peo- 
ple who wish to seem wise: "I wasn't 
brought up in the woods to be afraid 
of owls." 
The hoot owl has so many wild notes 
in his voice that it is not at all strange 
that he scares people who have not 
been brought up in the woods. Be- 
fore he sends out his proper hoot he 
sometimes seems to try to frighten 
everybody out of the forest with his 
awful shrieks. Sometimes several hoot 
owls get together in the night to hold 
a concert One of them seems to tell a 
funny story and all the rest break out 
with shouts of he-he-he- he-hi-hi-hi-hi- ha- 
ha-ha-ha, and then they become as 
solemn as any other owls, and the still- 
ness of the night is perfect until another 
owl has a droll story or song to set the 
S rest a-shouting at. 
The owl is brave. One that weighed 
! less than six ounces once fought a nine- 
I pound rooster. A teamster in Maine 
I once went to sleep on top of his load 
while his horses ate their oats beside a 
forest road. When he pulled the 
blanket away from his face an owl 
pounced down upon it, perhaps think- 
ing his white skin was a rabbit, and 
! tore his cheeks fiercely. He was much 
' frightened, having just awakened. But 
he caught the owl and killed it after a 
short struggle, and called himself 
lucky because his eyes were not put 
out by the bird. 
If the owl is a sober and wise bird 
| he forgets all about it when he woos 
his mate. Such awkward dancing and 
foolish boo-hoo-ing is never seen ex- 
cept when the owl is trying to choose 
a mate for life. But he makes up for 
| his awkwardness when there are eggs 
to sit upon, for the owl is the best hus- 
band a bird ever had. When there is 
room in the old hollow where the nest 
is he will sit on the eggs with his wife 
and help her hatch the puffy little owl 
children. 
Owls are the best of parents, too, 
j for they will risk their own lives freely 
to protect their young. If their nests 
are robbed and the old birds can find 
where their young ones are caged they 
will come daily with food for them 
though they are in great danger in do- 
ing so. 
79 
