Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/161

Rh inches. It is common South. A quaint and lively bird, its actions look like antics, for it is an oddity, even among its own folks. His portrait is that of a gay, unsuspecting fellow. He has queer ways for an owl; he is not sedate enough. In the deep woods, and in broad daylight, when all owldom is abed, he will set up his comical half-laugh, half-cry, "Whah! whah! whah-a-a-aa!" which has in it something of the affectation of an exquisite. He is the dandy owl—as he has been called the buffoon of the woods.

A much graver person, and the giant of American owls, is the great gray owl (S. cinerium, Aud.). His length is thirty inches. The cry is not unlike that of the mottled owl. The bird is common in Canada, and has been shot in New Jersey.



As representing the gray owls well, we must instance the brown or tawny owl, so called in England, although its upper parts are ashen gray (see Fig. 7) (S. aluco, Linn.). This bird is found in Great Britain, on the Continent, and in Japan. It is only some fifteen inches long, and of retiring habits, as it loves the deep, dark woods, which it will make ring with its dolorous, wolf-like cry of "Hoo! hoo! hoo!" It is an indiscriminate feeder, regaling itself on slugs, insects, small quadrupeds, birds, and fish. And it is quite a clever fisherman in its way, having been known to carry a pound-weight trout to its young. Its mode of angling is to stand stock-till, and patiently, on a protruding stone in a rippling stream, and, when an unsuspicious swimmer comes along, to invest five talons promptly, and take the venture out in fish.

In this group belongs the genus Nyctale which contains the pretty little saw-whet, or Acadian owl (Nyctale Acadiœ, Bonap.). This is the smallest owl in the Eastern and Middle States, being but eight inches long. Its cry is said to resemble the filing or whetting of the teeth