Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1884-02-07
Making Pets Of Owls.

"Do owls make nice pets?' said the
bird fancier, repeating the question.
"Um-well, that depends on what you
call NICE wouldn't call bird nice
which has had the reputation for thou
sands of years of being the companion
of ghosts, witches, demons and magi-
clans. which by nature loves to be alone
night and day, and flies noiselessly
like thing of evil, aud in captivity is
not particularly sociable to say the
least. There's no accounting for tastes
in pets, however. and l know good
many people who make pets of them.
l believe a pet strictly speaking is
something to be treated with indul-
gence and constant gentle attention;
but the owl does not seem to. care for
that kind of treatment. Its big SOL
emn eyes seem to make you keep
your distance and attempt no familiari-
ties. There doesn't seem to be any
room for sentiment about an owl. An
evolutionist would say that it is born
with affections at the zero point. or,
perhaps, below zero. 1t is hard work
getting into their confidence. How
ever, they are easily tanned, and
sometimes make interesting pets.
There's more. difference in their indi-
vidual characters, too, than people to
whom an owl is an owl and nothing
more are wont to suppose. The ancients
thought that because owls have big eyes
and enormous heads, therefore they
are the wisest of birds. Nowadays ~
completely reverse this opinion, and
hold that owls are foolish. Both
opinions are ignorant and wrong. Some
owls are wiser than others. Owls help
the farmers by catching and eating
moles and mice. The farmer foOlishly
shoots them and stuffs the birds for
show"
care they caught to be sold as pets?"
eyes, occasionally. The best way
to catch them is to surprise them in
nest in an old hollow tree. Boys tie a
stocking to the end of long pole and
run the pole cautiously down the inside
of the tree through the opening. In
stinctively the old owl, to protect her
young, turns on her back in the middle
of the nest, and is ready, with her
claws in the air, to fight anything that
comes. Slowly the stocking descends,
and as it touches the bird the strong
claws and beak of the bird are tearing
it to pieces. The boy pulls on the
pole, and the owl is so busy fighting
and suffering that it is at the top and
in the boys arms before it--shall say
tumbles? Then the boy has to look out
for himself. If he escapes with torn
clothing while he is descending the tree
and putting the owl in bag he is a
lucky boy.
They are usually kept in parrot
cage" continued the naturalist. "All
my birds are very tame, and will sub
NIT to be tickled on the head, and, [
suspect rather like it, though they look
so solemn all the while that laugh
outright sometimes at the notion of
toying with a'thing that has eyes like
saucers and seems to be perpetually
mcditating on the infinite. Their tenn
pers vary. The European horned owl
sets up a fierce Kissing. swapping and
barking noise when first captured, OF
when provoked with q stick. The
American great horned owl banks like
dog, and, when it lets itself loose,
ScbS W Uc Il uttlSduCc Ill Cuc uOuSO, lOl
it can halloo with loud 'hOo-hoo-
hoo-e. and can initiate to perfection
the screams and gurglings of a choking
or drowning person. The screech owl
is easily tanned and is gentle. The
Acadian owl is the only kind of owl
in this country which wanders into
cities 1t is caught occasionally in old
belfries or in deserted or unOccupied
houses. 1t is seeking for mice. 1t
makes noise like saw-mill at work,
and is commonly known as the Saw
whet' owl. On that account it is Objec
tionable as pet. The barred owl
found in the Southern States makes a
sound like an affected laugh. 1t is
called the butfOon of the woods. Some
people keep it in their houses to catch
mice"
"Can owls learn tricks?'
eyes, some simple ones, like eating
out of your hand, selling the end of a
rope in your hand and letting you swing
them around in circle, coming to you
at the sound of their name, climbing
the balustrade in your hall, or jumping
through q hoop. The solemn air they
carry all the while makes them
amusing. IN. Y. San.