The Barn Owl. lI 
should look twice at the figures, to see if we had not 
made a mistake in our reckoning. 
It is true we have other birds that will kill mice, and 
cats to do the same business, but none to equal the Barn 
Owl, especially when it has young. The flight of this 
light and silent traveller of the night is noiseless; its 
soft plumage and finely-fringed wings are admirably 
adapted for its silent journeys: it skims along with 
great ease; its wings seem rather to fan the air than 
to bite it; and while on the wing, as well as on its 
perch, it screams violently, from which it takes the 
name of “Screech Owl.” ‘This bird swallows its food 
whole, and afterwards rejects the indigestible parts at 
the bill. If in its resting-place it wishes to perform 
GlemeMin Of rejection, it does not disturb itself but 
allows the pellets to remain in the hole (making no 
other nest) upon which it-lays its eggs—four or five 
in number. 
The Barn Owl generally stands and sleeps in an 
upright position during the light of day; but when it 
has young, which is in the spring of the year, I have 
often seen it hawking for its food in the middle part 
of the day; but at such times I never remember having 
heard it scream. The cry of the young of this bird is 
