Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1875 — A CHAPTER IN OWLS. [ARTICLE]

A CHAPTER IN OWLS.

Owls are strong-pinioned and capable of protracted flight. One naturalist relates that he once saw the burrowingowl hover for two hours about thirty feet above the ground, never changing position in all that time except occasionally to rise or fall a little distance in the air. Owls have not the narrow, pointed wings of those birds which perform swift and rapid flights. On the contrary their, wings are wide and rounded, and the feathers are broad-webbed, with the barbs separate at the ends, and with the shafts covered with fine hair and edged with loose, silky down to muffle every sound when in motion. The light, stealthy tread of the cat is not more noiseless than the flitting of the owl, which cleaves the air without interrupting the most profound stillness. Audubon tells of their often gliding by within a few yards of him, but so silently that their presence only by their shadow falling in the moonlight. How profoundly sage is the look of this bird! With its big head, great eyes, hooked beak and staid behavior it really has an air of wonderful wisdom—as if all the knowledge in heaven and earth were comprehended in its philosophy, but it could never condescend to betray any of its secrets to pitiful humanity. It is not strange that Minerva chose the bird as her emblem, or that the Hindoos and Mongols should pay it divine honors. Nor is it singular that the superstitious should regard it with fear from its expression of unearthly sapience, and, more than all, from its fondness for the night and darkness and solitude, its uncanny way of haunting ghostly ruins and the deepest recesses of the forest, and from its doleful, lugubrious cries, which startle the lonely night air as with the yells and moans of evil spirits. There are 200 species of owls known to the ornithologists, seventeen of which inhabit North America and fifteen the Continent of Europe. They are the most cosmopolitan of birds, and their habits are much the same the world over. At the poles or the tropics they are invariably distinguished by an appearance of superior intelligence and an extraordinary phlegm of character. They are all poor architects, building slight, rude nests of a few sticks or feathers, or bones, hair and refuse; and, as we might expect from this indifference to the comforts of a substantial home, they have very little social or domestic feeling. Most species prefer to live solitary at all seasons, exclusive of the few weeks necessarily devoted to the raising of a family. The great horned owl, Bubo Virgintanus, seems to be incapable of even mental affection, and regards its mate with cold-blooded apathy. Indeed, an instance is on record where a pair of these unfeeling birds were kept in confinement, and the female actually killed and ate up her husband. It is impossible to tame the fierce Bubo. Though taken young and treated with tenderness no spark of gratitude or affection can be kindled iq|its heart. Some others of the species submit gracefully to the conditions of captivity, and become amusing and agreeable domestic companions. The mottled owl, or screech owl 1 ( Scops asio), is especially amenable to the influences of civilization. It will not change its nature—laying ofl its nocturnal and rapacious habits and taking its food dressed and cooked after the manner of a Christian —but it manifests considerable regard for its owner, will learn to come at call, recognizing its name, and will suffer itself to be stroked and petted by familiar hands. Owls are at heart by no mean* the stolid creatures they look to be by daylight. When night approaches, the period of their activity, they are as keen and shrewd and quick in their movements as almost any other of the feathered race.

Hunters who camp out in the forest, or travelers passing through the wooded districts after nightfall, have an opportunity of witnessing the odd, unrestrained antics of the bird. When darkness shuts down on the world it holds high carnival, and on noiseless wings flits (hrough the gloom, coursing with unerring precision dim and devious ways that are lighted solely by fires burning within its orbs of vision. Attracted by the red flames, it often swoops down by the hunter’s tent, and, with strange bowings, and curvings, and cranings of the head and neck, tries to peer into the mystery that envelops the novel situation. “ How often,” says Audubon, of the hoot-owl ( Symium nebulosum), “ when snugly settled under the boughs of my temporary encampment, and preparing to roast a venison-steak, or the body of a squirrel, on a wooden spit, have I" been saluted with the exulting bursts of this mighty disturber of the peace that, had it not been for him, would have prevailed around me, as well as in my lonely retreat! How often have I seen this nocturnal marauder alight within a few yards of me, exposing his whole body to the glare of my fire, and eye me in such a curious manner that, had it been reasonable to do so, I would gladly have invited him to walk in and join me in my repast, that I might have enjoyed the pleasure of forming a better acquaintance with him! liveliness of his motions, joined to their oddness, have often made me thins that his society would be at least as agreeable as that ol many of the buffoons we meet with in the world. But, as such opportunities of forming acquaintance have not existed, be content, kind reader, with the imperfect information which I can give you of the habits of this Sancho Panza of our woods." A very curious habit of the owl is that of casting up the undigested portions of its meals in the form of large, rounded pellets. It is the practice of most of the species to swallow mice and birds, after thev have plucked out the longest wing an J tail-feathers, whole; then, after the digestible parts have been consumed by the internal organs, the bones, hair and feathers are ejected from the mouth in hard, dry balls. These may be found in abundance around the nests of the birds and the places they usually haunt. Lke Glara Peggotty’s buttons, which were continually dropping in the track she

traveled, these pellets serve to point out to the hunter the trail of the owl. As all the species, subsist principally upon mice, insects and noxious vermin, owls should be cherished by the farmer as useful collaborators. Yet, with that perverse blindness that too largely characterizes humanity, the agriculturist refuses to acknowledge the services of one of his best friends, and persecutes the bird with a vindictive hatred. It is true that some of the larger species, like the great horned owl and perhaps the hootowl do make havoc of the poultry-yard on getting access to it, but depredations of this sort are not often perpetrated, and when they are there is no doubt that the farmer’s loss is more than made up by the increase of harvest he owes to the faithful labors of these very same pillagers in clearing his fields of mice and moles and insects. The plumage of the various species of owls is the same in both sexes, and there is no variation of tints or markings with the changing seasons or the advancing years of the bird. No adult owl betrays the secret of its age or its sex by any distinctive peculiarity in the style of its dress. They may not be able to hide from the sharp eyes of each other the interesting circumstances of youth or decrepitude, femininity or masculinity, but they most effectually can from the human race. No gray hairs grow in their polls as time goes on, nor do their speckled robes get faded and soiled with the wear and tear of successive years. The eggs, too, of all the species are immaculate white. They differ somewhat in shape and size, and in the hue of their whiteness, being sometimes delicately flushed with a pink or a blue or a yellowish tinge, but they never bear a spot or splash of color on any part of their surface. Their nests are built on the branches or in the hollows of trees, in the fissures of rocks, in the deserted nests of other birds, on the ground, or even in burrows under the ground. The same species will vary curiously in the locality of their homes, but all are alike careless and slovenly builders and untidy housekeepers. Filthy refuse is allowed to accum ulate about their dwellings, and fleas and other vermin, swarming in the reeking debris, seemingly occasion them no disturbance.

One of the most interesting of the family is the burrowing owl of the Western prairies (Spheotyto cunicularia, var. hypogcea). Contrary to the habit of most of the tribe these owls congregate in large communities and live and breed in burrows under ground. They are said to excavate their own habitation when forced to it but generally they take possession of the deserted holes of badgers, marmots, squirrels and rats or they make their abode with the prairie-dog and other burrowers, and dwell with odd neighbors in friendly relation. Queer stories are told of the companionsnips they sometimes form. An observer once found in the same burrow a female owl with two eggs, female ground-squirrel (Spermophilus Douglassi) and a racer snake. The rattlesnake is often an inmate of the habitation shared in common by this owl and the prairie dog, and all seem to live together, in harmony. Did either display a disposition to mclest the others tjhere would soon ensue a dissolution of these communistic societies; but they appear to flourish to the satisfaction of all parties concerned. When alarmed, the burrowing owl commences burrowing and gesticulating and chattering in a most ludicrous fashion; or it first takes to its wings, flying swiftly along the ground to a more distant locality and there breaks out into excited expressions of disapprobation. Nearsighted people have the key to the queer bowings and twistings of the head characteristic of the owl family. They are made in the effort to adjust the focus of vision correctly and answer to the squinting and screwing of the eyes involuntarily practiced by the short-sighted. The snowy owl is a noble bird. Its home is within the Arctic circle, and it is never met with in the United States save in midwinter, and then rarely. It is an expert fisher, and, crouching on the edge of air-holes in the ice, seizes with lightning-like celerity every finny venturer that comes to the surface. It also feeds on hares, squirrels, rats, etc. There are several diminutive species of owls inhabiting the PacifiqJStates. The California pigmy owl {Olancidium passecinum, var. Califomicum) is not larger than a sparrow, and is diurnal in its habits. Its notes are represented as clear and soft, like those of a flute. Its food is entirely insectiverous. Whitney’s owl (Micaathene Whitney *) is less in size than the species first mentioned, and b the smallest known on our continent. The red-tailed owl {Olancidium fenugineum) is also a diminutive species, confined to the Southern Territories and Mexico, and thence ranging into South America. Of the seventeen species dwelling in North America two — the bam owl {Btrix flammea) and the marsh owl {Otus brachyotu»)—&ro found in all parts of the world; nine range from shore to shore of our continent, and two—the burrowing owl and the great homed owl—are peculiar to the Western Hemisphere. On account of the secluded habits of the owls, their nests are not frequently met with, and their eggs are rare treasures in the cabinet of the oologist. Among the choice possessions of the Smithsonian Institute are four eggs of the snowy owl, which Capt. C. F. Hall took from a nest on the bare ground while on some Arctic expedition, and sent, packed in an old moccasin, to the national storehouse of scientific curiosities. Owls are sometimes exposed among game-birds in the . market. They are eaten with great relish by the negroes and Indian tribes. Audubon testifies that the flesh of the snowy owl has a dainty and palatable flavor.— Chicago Tribune. _ —flepworth Dixon talks about the fascination of Niagara in impelling woman to suicide. A knowledge of this fact would seem likely to make Niagara pop ular with husbands, not so much for wedding tjripa and wedding anniversaries.