Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1921-02-17
The Screech Owl.

'D' - have long been conscious
r. has given me strange music OF
-. but | had never seen him with
- eyes. Ii CHANGED that ! was
~ ID, down II road that asses the
Some one hundred and twenty
tom, the door stands great elm
hole in it midway to the top.
- -, I'D in.u the tree noted the
-. and in the doorway sat none
-. than a screech owl, bag and bag
- and he n,cded only the proven
- ,r;r5ren's sock glasses upon his
-. Pa, assure ne beyond the scintiila
soub, that he knew all there was
INV aoout this world and even the
Nv. |, IS this same screech owl that
..:.. around the trees about the place
30, night draws his purple damask
-, the land. On such occasions he
..,ss voice TO his feelings in mourn
e. clairtive-keyed tremors that recall
Ghosts with perfectly white bed-sheets
srs- them. or hoogoblins and other
t,ts. not TO forget dwarfs and sylphs,
,bateyer they may be. Just what are
his DEEDS in the hours of darkness |
!, m, know but if am not mistaken
=. i tbe same Identical fellow that has
chung around' the suet chunks have
nailed and bound TO the trees about
,bs mace. do not wish to issue
.veerine accusation to that effect but
-,ust saw. as the newswriter, that ian
,r,eoed owl has been busy in the neigh
torhood'
ANYHOW. someone-l will not say
Who in nocturnal hours, appeared be-
Acre said suet and gouged oft ap-
,recjable chunks that could certainly
m, have been done by the bill Of
tny woodpecker, let alone a titmouse
Ga there he sat in the cavity, surround
ed innocently by his feathers, rigid,
/ sentinel-like, staring outward with
CLASSY though knew from the
way his head turned as ! moved for
/ ward that he was seeing me with his
ears.
The dO,cful cry of the screech owl.
MegaScopS aSiO, Denetrates TO ones
marrow. 1t is dismal beyond words
/ | have lain in a lean-to in the wild
northern woods and heard the wolf
4 rack on the trail of wounded buck,
| vet the awfulness OF those cries is no
| more provocative of shudders than
| the "screech" of this little owl.
There is that about an owl that
| stimulates in me certain sense OF
wonder By some hocus-pocus, mes
merizing system he rules the woods,
falling upon birds and mice as the.
SHOW themselves, but mostly making
life for the field mice and even barn
rats one of constant watchfulness. in
the name of Self-preservation. I'm
doubtedly owls are among the most
dreaded creatures of wood and fen.
They may be destructive at times in
that they may kill birds, but that they
are surprisingly beneficial in the good
that they do in killing vermin can new.
er be belttled. Locate an owls nest,
winter or summer, and you will fine
therein evidence of the great mouse
and rat forage that is carried on, and
this is Singularly true during the nest
ing season when they harry the field
mice numbers relentlessly, bringing
them IN with mechanical regularity
how they CO it The Lord only knows.
But that is their life'S work and that
they are proficient in their calling
goes without the saying. When an owl
has lis victim in its grasp it swallows
II as II IS, il it can do so. He does
not stop to pick out the bones or elm
mate claws. He lets the "inner man"
90 that tor him. BY a rotary move
ment OF the stomach the flesh and
eaio!e portions of the victim are dis
posed OF, aSsimilated, and then up
"neS what cannot be made use of,
r0neS and all. This is elected from
Tie mouth in a ball-like affair which
We Know as pellets" 1t is by study
ing these pellets that we learn beyond
doubt what is the food Of the owl.
30 long as the owl destroys field
A''ce and other creatures detrimental
10 me welfare of man, and in fact to
oil He so long is the owl positive
'''us 10 man, and since all owls are
','O'e or less destructive in this sense
"'ey should not be killed. Every owl
neighborhood is Of a decided
AOi'h and to eliminate that life is but
Il" "elp along an increase in vermin
"'a' Is so hard to keep down. As