. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. THE HOKNED OWL FAMILY 221 can judge of the value or lack of value of this bird to the country at large. It does not seem as if the forty-six mice are a fair equivalent for the useful birds and small mammals destroyed. Dr. Fisher's conclusion is as follows: "If a fair balance be struck, it must be considered that this Owl is on the whole beneficial, and hence should occupy a place in the list of birds to be ; The Barred Owl is next in size to the great ho


. The American natural history; a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. Natural history. THE HOKNED OWL FAMILY 221 can judge of the value or lack of value of this bird to the country at large. It does not seem as if the forty-six mice are a fair equivalent for the useful birds and small mammals destroyed. Dr. Fisher's conclusion is as follows: "If a fair balance be struck, it must be considered that this Owl is on the whole beneficial, and hence should occupy a place in the list of birds to be ; The Barred Owl is next in size to the great horned owl. It is from 20 to 22 inches long, heavy-bodied, round-headed, and quite with- out "horns," or "; Its head, neck and breast are marked by many black horizontal bars on a gray or creamy-white ground, and the breast and abdomen have a few thick, perpen- dicular bars. Many times a big Barred Owl of my acquaintance has exclaimed to me through the darkness, in a fearfully hollow and sepul- chral voice,—"Who? Who-who-who-who-w/io- WHO? Ah!" It is like the war-cry of an angry ghost. This bird ranges throughout the eastern half of the United States, and westward almost to the Rocky Mountains; and it frequently finds its way into captivity. The Great Gray OwP is the largest member of this Family found in the New World. It is an arctic bird, one-fourth larger than the great horned owl, and oven in winter has never wan- dered farther south than the Ohio River. In Alaska and British Columbia it inhabits the tim- bered regions, and does not wander far into the treeless Barren Grounds. Anyone who captures a very large owl of a dusky brown or dusky gray color, larger than a great horned owl, but with no ear-tujts, may know that he has secured a speci- men of the rare and handsome Great Gray Owl. The Saw-Whet Owl'' is a very small Owl, and so shy that few people ever see it; but it feeds almost exclusively upon mice, and any bird which wages perpetu


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