16 THE-AUDUBON TB UDE Ea 

ever went ‘‘piti-pat”’ any faster than mine did while I poised myself on 
that icy ladder ten or twelve feet above ground and pounded with my 
fist until I could slide the door up and pull out that sleepy owl. Ap- 
parently I had disturbed his nap, but when he was really awake he did 
a great deal of clawing, and when I at last pulled him out, he held in his 
claw one of the sparrows from which he had eaten the head. I went 
back afterwards and found that he had also eaten the head of the other 
sparrow, but both bodies were whole. Apparently the head is the 
choicest tidbit. 
Though so elated at my capture, I was a little sorry to find that he 
was not the one of the rufous feathers, but a gray one. I banded him and 
shut him up while I arranged the camera. When I brought him out, he 
seemed to have recovered from his fright, and when I held him on my 
hand he calmly settled down for another nap. We took one photograph 
of him; then to give him a little livelier expression, I shook him, and we 
took another. 
Then I said, “‘ Now, little fellow, you sit here all alone and let us get 
one that way.” 
So I placed him on the stick, and stroked his feathers and cautiously 
removed my hand, and we took a third picture. But when I again moved 
my hand toward him, he noislessly lew away. I have not seen him 
since, though the bait is often gone in the morning, and I have also 
caught and banded two others, both in the gray phase. The rufous- 
colored one I have not seen since November. 
While handling them I have been interested to notice what com- 
pletely feathered creatures they are. Even their eyelids are covered 
with down and their toes are feathered to the claws. I spread out their 
wings to see the downy edges of the flight feathers which make possible 
their noiseless flight. The second and third ones I kept some days until 


THE Gray SCREECH OWL 
