. Animal snapshots and how made . ts legs feathered. The adult bird maybe gray or brownish red. This variation in color, ordichromatism as it is called, is well marked, and fora long time it was supposed to have something to dowith the sex or age of the bird, some scientists evengoing so far as to class the two as different reahty it has to do with none of these, althoughjust why it occurs has not been satisfactorily dichromatism occurs very frequently among thesquirrels, and it is not uncommon in the insect screech owl is one of our most beneficial owls,for
. Animal snapshots and how made . ts legs feathered. The adult bird maybe gray or brownish red. This variation in color, ordichromatism as it is called, is well marked, and fora long time it was supposed to have something to dowith the sex or age of the bird, some scientists evengoing so far as to class the two as different reahty it has to do with none of these, althoughjust why it occurs has not been satisfactorily dichromatism occurs very frequently among thesquirrels, and it is not uncommon in the insect screech owl is one of our most beneficial owls,for it feeds principally upon mice, reptiles, and insects,but sometimes—upon small birds. The greatest goodis done in the destruction of field-mice, which doso much damage to the grass roots, to the grain bothwhen stacked and in the shock, and to young fruit- 305 306 The Screech Owl trees. The greatest damage to trees occurs In thatpart of the owls range where the snow is so deepthat it is impossible for the bird to reach the Young Screech Owls. To the field student of natural history there areno tracks in the snow more common than those of theshort-tailed field mouse. They are particularly plenti-ful about hedgerows, brush heaps, stone piles, hayand grain stacks, and farm buildings, while theorchard is one complete network of them. Some-times in the morning one may read on the softsnow a chapter from Nature, written in her own The Screech Owl 307 hand and better than anything ever found inbooks. Let us study it together. The old orchard isbefore us; many of the trees have long since passedtheir commercial usefulness, but they should be spared,for they are now the homes of our animal and the elements have dealt harshly with them,and the boisterous wind has torn many a limb asunder;here, for many years, the flickers have drilled theirhomes, and the cavities in the old trees have grownlarger year by year. Toward one old tree, one-halfof which is tipped over unti
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectani, booksubjectbirds
