IN FEATHERS AXD FUR 85 
dresses in a neat suit of brown and black. He is no common 
bird, living in some tree, and flying around in the vulgar daylight 
after his food. 
By no means ! As long as there's a streak of sunlight, Mr. 
Owl stays quietly in his home, which is usually in some old tower, 
church-steeple, or old hollow trunk. 
They do say he can't see much by daylight, and if you catch 
one he seems rather stupid, and almost blind. 
However that may be, as soon as it's dark, he prepares to go 
out for something to eat. 
When he starts off, and gives his eager cry of "Who ! who l n 
the rabbits, and rats and mice and such little fellows, take to their 
holes as fast as they can run. I suppose it means to them — 
" Who shall I have for my supper ? " 
But in spite of their fright and hiding, Mr. Owl manages to 
find enough of them to eat, adding frogs, toads, and such creatures, 
when he has a house full of hungry owlets. 
There's one very curious thing about his eating. When he 
catches a mouse, he first breaks its bones with his bill, and, then 
swallows it whole — fur, bones and all. 
Now, bones are not very nice to have in the stomach, so after 
a few hours, Mr. Owl opens his mouth, and throws up the bones 
and fur, made into a ball, as I told you the kingfisher does. 
A very convenient stomach, that must be ! 
Another of the Owl family is more nice in his eating. He is 
a little fellow, called the Sparrow Owl, and is about as big as a 
robin. He kills small birds, and actually picks them before eating. 
The big horned fellow in the picture, can be easily tamed. 
He will learn to know his name, and come when he is called. 
I've read an interesting story of a great Owl, whose baby was 
caught and shut up in a hen house. I suppose the little fellow 
cried, and his mother heard him, for every night she brought him 
something to eat, till he was big enough to take care of himself. 
Another American Owl, the Burrowing Owl, has a very bad 
character. He is about as large as a pigeon, and he likes his house 
under ground. But I'm sorry to say he don't like the trouble of 
digging it, so he goes to a cozy little home, burrowed out by some 
quiet little prairie dog, who isn't strong enough to refuse him admit- 
tance. There he takes up his residence, in spite of the owner, and 
there he lives with the family. 
