Evening star., 1948-10-19
This and That
By Charles E. TrdceDeH


Dear Sir:
will you tell us something about owls?
a"Every night lately we have been awakened
by the most frightening sound nearby and have
finally decided 1t must be an owl
1T is hard to describe, but it is high pitched.
like scream, and ends on a sudden shrek.
"No who, who like the owls we used to hear
in New York State. in the country. = I e.
And does the owl make this noise when he Is
pouncing on his prey or what? We would give
anything to see him but he never sounds forth
until or o'clock in the morning
Your column seems to be the one bright
spot in the paper these days. and 1t Is a re-
freshing feeling to turn to it after reading the
news. We always save 1t till last so we will have
something pleasant to remember
Very truly yours, K. S. S."
This may have been the great horned OWL
This creature hoots, all right, but also has a
series Of yelps, not unlike those of dog, and
catlike Squall
1t is the latter that gives this owl one of its
popular names, cat owl.
Even the hooting at a distance sounds like
something else, that Is, the two long notes, fol-
lowed by a short one, remind Some listeners of
a locomotive warning whistle
One writer says: Usually the cry, like that
Of most owls and of the night birds generally,
has all uncanny and weird significance. in
which are blended distinct suggestions of
threat defiance and scorn as BELTS the fear
less and savage nature of this veritable tiger
of the air.
The great naturalist Dr. A. X. Fisher, wrote
of this species:
The large and handsome great horned owl
is found throughout the United States where
suitable timber exists for its habitation 1t is
voracious bird and its capacity for good or
evil is very great.
seem to attack poultry or game birds to any
considerable extent, but in regions where rab-
bits and squirrels are scarce it frequently
makes inroads on fowls, especially where they
roost in trees.
Undoubtedly, rabbits are its favorite food
though in some places the common rat is killed
in great numbers; we have record of the
remains of over 1DG rats that were found under
one nest.
"The great horned owl does a vast amount
of good, and if farmers would shut up their
chickens at night instead of allowing them
to roost in trees and other exposed places the
principal damage done by this bird would be
prevented"
1t may be that our correspondent heard the
little screech owl, sometimes called little horn
ed owl.
The term "screech," in regard to this birds
cry, is not exactly appropriate, for it is rather
II
about it.
1t is, rather, lament; in the South, the
people call it "shivering OWL This is the
owl that develops two color phases, so that
two common names for it are gray owl and
red owl
The long-eared owl has Two cries, on re-
sembling the yapping of small dogs, another
the mewing of kittens, and when forced to
fight will hiss like snake.
Owls are to be classed as birds helpful to
man, although hundreds of them are de-
stroyed through ignorance or just sheer desire
to kill something
They are industrious mousers which usually
they swallow whole, the hair and bones dis
gorged afterwards in the form of pellets.
It is by the examination of these pellets
that scientists have learned what the birds
eat and have proved beyond dispute that
mainly they are beneficial to man.
Owl eggs are white, and owl young are Gov
cred with white down.
Barn OWLS plentiful hereabouts eat their
own weight every night. It is recorded that
one barn owl ate eight mice, one after the
other and ninth, whose tail for long time
hung out of the owls mouth. In three hours
it was able to eat four more mice
It may be realized that such a greedy
creature is good to have around, when his
appetite runs to rodents. DR.. Fisher examined
200 pellets from a pair of barn owls that
occupied tower of the Smithsonian Institu
ton. More than 450 animal skulls were re-
vealed, including those from 225 meadow mice
and ITO house mice Only one bird, vesper
sparrow, was represented.