The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 22, 1900, Page 11

THE SUNDAY CALL t this individual some time after 104 ek QUL & Very v ) i - Fe v s, of w b e was an § of - 1 a little never even heard, far less meen, a real, - e Fulod o cdmefrom ever dreaming rit, end 1 be nests for the finding nterview with in the neighborhood; and yet all this while peautiful fm- there Were no less than three different " beak upon the epecies of owls close at hand, and I have po doubt that, had I only known where to look, I could have found their nests as easily ae I can do now. I shal! never forget my first tawny owl. xpression &n e Gligh Write man | 1 i an owl tree way I started arch for on the > were our going bird, tr unsuc cured wit aking one and I t we called him ¢ o f ; the makin self out t ] was ] asion- ally in an ad- join hop of t ind b f any k te play- ng When tickled with this instrument he would put on an appearance of the greatest interest. and gravely extending a claw would close 1t with much deliberation .upon the feath- ers, and then proceed to examine his cap- ture with an air of tremendous wisdom. Ocecasionally he was taken out into the open alir, but as he took to flylng into the dark cover of the trees, sometimes a lit- tie higher than was safe, his liberty haa to be curtailed. Poor Darby! One morn- ing when going into the cellar where he had been passing the night I was sur- prised at his not flying down as usual for his breakfast. I called, but received no answer. I hunted everywhere, but in vain, I listened, and at last heard a faint gurgling noise proceeding from a corner. ‘SET TO RAISE N T had forgot to remove Dame Julla her ne that ad laid a from me the ¢ lace them Ik and t them. wili huddle t w m s smoke cimts Bhysically, and 7 Yol ¥, % Preperly teresting Frignd. n of a 1 float- wi above Hurrying v i a half of w: hfs great head showir . the feathers around his neck yort him like a bugy. He ) get at the water in the jar and had succeeded ¢ st hz been in several hc when ¥ out upon hand with ardly a sigy ife, looking like a bunch , the most pitiful object 1 ich I subj 1 to ke however. One day while I him he took it Into his head to fly very top of a high tree close at left his cage open, fully expecting him to return toward evening, but, with singular ingratitude, he seemed to prefer his free- dom, and though for several days he con- tinued to frequent the grounds, he dis- played no anxiety to return, and so I finally lost him. ’ . At present I have no less than three tawny owls, which I have reared from the nest; two I took from an old hawk's nest, and one from a hole in the wall of a tumble-down cottage. They have been brought up in company with several other bird pets, magpies, jackdaws and hawks, and when quite young it was an exceed- ingly pretty sight to see them all togetner on one perch, watching the proceedings of the jacks and magpies with an air of absorbing interest. NINTRUDER AN ‘A BROSDY HEN" down with a thread will a They remain in position lon me to get a first outline pression of thel . sary sometimes to ket, give them a few swings then place them in fr L) }. e——— ometimes a jack would fly up to the d give one of the tawnles a with his beak, for all the he wanted to say, “Wake * Whereupon the owl th great gravity to comb plumage with beak and y ing dur! ack the w with an air o e old buffer.” o T have Kept at different sund them very amusing pets, from a barn where for sev- a palr had nested In an old Jeftf we called him, and a he was when first n cote. looking object his education wds begun. Of course, most of my readers will be aware of the f feathers or fur and hones are a necessary part of the dlet of birds of prey, especlally owls, and that a process 1s gone through inside by which every particle of flesh is separated from the indigestible matter, which later on is ejected from the beak in the form of a pellet, or “casting,” as it is called. By cxamining these castings onc is able to de- termine accurately what goes to form the “menu” of these birds in their wild state, Personally I have never found anything but the remains of mice and rats in the pellets of the barn owl, which goes far to demonstrete the extreme utility of this bird to the farmer, though at the same time I have no doubt that In a locality where mice and suchsmall deer are scarce an occasional bird would ngt come amiss, befors, not after breakfast, er I appeared on the scene sure t swer me, t a2 antici- On my last visit to a barn owl's nest I found laid by for future consumption three full grown field mice and & y rat. In the nest of the tawny owl, on t other hand, I h; fc most part of birds, 50 th they w s on the part o a mistak 1! harge of my chaffin , th h th s is 2 of coping with a good s at all the owls whi ave at dif- to a pair of I hich no visit lection ever cast eyes filled with the desire of p: One I took myself from hawk's nest in a Scofch fir procured for me when scar ! old, and was br a palr of yo were able to us them from the nur for they are easier to reap I know of, provided always ently warm. When always by hand, 1 for his food. water for bathing for, though [ have live & y without 8 »ther two species are ond of a bath.—R. R., In Country, outdoor aviary, where they speedily made themselves at home. Whenever I entered the cage these two would fly to my choulder, or even upon my head, and sturdily resist all attempts to shake them off. I used frequently to take them out to chase a mouse in open, and even allowed them to part of the day in the trees in the gar- den, taking the precaution, however, to from its nest