OWLS. 57

Like other owls in this respect it is a great destroyer of mice, in search of which it comes into barns. The Great Grey Owl is a winter bird of the lonely forest of larger size even than the Great Horned Owl. 'l‘he Barred Owl is a smaller bird much resembling the last.

The Hawk Owl (Sari/fa funeral) is a small- sized, trimly-formed bird much resembling a hawk both in its general appearance and diurnal habits.

The smallest of the family is the Acadian, or Saw—whet Owl, a grey and brown—plumed little fellow eight inches in length. Its most peculiar characteristic is its call note of lam/e, (wok, sounded continuously during the still hours of calm, clear moonlit nights, in March and April. The constant and regular repetition of this single note, echoing through the rigid forest, sounds like the tolling of a bell, ringing out its steady peal on the starlit brilliancy of the crystal scene. This curious little bird nests in the hollow of a tree, laying five or six white eggs. Like most other Owls, it nests in April, having its young

well advanced when the summer’s strumrle begins. DD D

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