. Bird-life : a guide to the study of our common birds . ches in length, while its ear-tufts are nearly two inches long. The Screech Owl is doubtless the commonest of ourOwls, as it is also the most familiar, nesting about and Screech Owl even in our houses when some favor- Mtgascops asio. able hole oifcis. It has little to say for Plate XX. i^ggif ^jj^i i^g family of four to six fuzzy Owlets is safely launched into the world; then, inJuly or August, we may hear its melancholy voice—nota screech, but a tremulous, wailing whistle. It hasseveral other notes difficult to describe, and when alarme
. Bird-life : a guide to the study of our common birds . ches in length, while its ear-tufts are nearly two inches long. The Screech Owl is doubtless the commonest of ourOwls, as it is also the most familiar, nesting about and Screech Owl even in our houses when some favor- Mtgascops asio. able hole oifcis. It has little to say for Plate XX. i^ggif ^jj^i i^g family of four to six fuzzy Owlets is safely launched into the world; then, inJuly or August, we may hear its melancholy voice—nota screech, but a tremulous, wailing whistle. It hasseveral other notes difficult to describe, and when alarmeddefiantly snaps its bill. Some Screech Owls are gray, others bright reddishbrown, and these extremes are connected by specimensintermediate in color. This difference in color is not dueto age, sex, or season, and is termed dichromatism, orthe presence in the same species of two phases of same phenomenon is shown by other birds, notablycertain Herons, and among mammals by the gray squir-rel, some individuals of which are black. The observa-. ^T_, Page 134. Plate XXXVIII. BOBOLINK. Length, 7-25 inches. Male, in summer, nape buff ; shoulders and rumpwhitish ; crown and under parts black. Female, young, and male tnwinter, sparrowlike; upper parts black, brownish, and buffy; underparts yellowish white. BARRED OWL. HI tioiis of Dr. A. P. Chadboiirne apparently show tliat theScreech Owl may pass from one phase to another withoutchange of plumage.* We do not think of Owls as being insectivorous birds,but Dr. A. K. Fisher tells us that of 225 Screech Owlsstomachs examined, 100 contained insects. As 91 of theremaining 125 contained mice, and poultry was foundin only one stomach, the farmer may well consider theScreech Owl a biid of good repute rather than of illomen. Next to the Screech Owl the Barred Owl is doubtlessour most common representative of this family, but its Barred Owl fondness for deep woods prevents its Syrnium nthuiosum. being knowu to many who recogniz
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirdsun, bookyear1901
