CHAPTER XVI

[Contents]CHAPTER XVIOTHER OWLS“Owls not belonging to the horned class lack, of course, the egrets or plumicorns characteristic of the latter. The largest of the hornless owls is the howlet or tawny owl, which is about as large as one of our domestic hens. The predominating color of its plumage is grayish in the male and reddish in the female, a difference that sometimes causes them to be mistaken for separate species. On this background color is a sprinkling of light brown spots, running lengthwise of the body and less numerous on the breast and stomach than elsewhere. The wings are marked with several large, white, round spots. The head is very large and nearly round, the face sunken in the surrounding feathers and partly concealed by them. The eyes, likewise sunken, are brown and surrounded with small gray feathers.“The name howlet is connected in its derivation with the word howl, and the bird called by that name is indeed remarkable for its cry, not unlike a wolf’s howl. When at the close of a somber winter day the wind whips the snow and moans in the trees, one may often hear a frightful cry, prolonged and mournful, rising from the dark depths of the forest[123]—hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo. Then in the lonely cottage the frightened mother makes the sign of the cross, while her little ones press close to her, crying, and saying, ‘The wolves are coming.’ Don’t be uneasy, good people; it is not a wolf, it is an owlhoo-hooing, sounding its war-cry from the top of some hollow oak and getting ready for its nightly rounds.Gnome-owl with Captured MouseGnome-owl with Captured Mouse“In summer-time the howlet lives in the woods. It hunts by preference field-mice and meadow-mice, which it swallows whole, afterward throwing up the skin and bones rolled into a ball. The little birds that worry it so unmercifully in the daytime, whenever they get a chance to come upon it unawares in the sunlight, are not safe from its beak in the hours of darkness if the night-bird can pounce upon them after first frightening them with its terriblehoo-hoo. Keep as still as mice in your hiding-places, you finches and redbreasts and tomtits, and don’t betray yourselves by giving voice to your alarm. Let the owlhoo-hooas much as it pleases. If you make a sound you are lost.“If the fields prove disappointing as a hunting-ground, the owl makes bold to approach dwelling-houses and finds its way into barns, there to play[124]the part of cat and thus make good the title of ‘hooting cat’ which has been given it. For patience and skill in catching rats and mice it rivals Raminagrobis1himself. It is a guest to be treated with respect when hunger compels it to visit our granaries. After completing its nightly rounds it returns to the woods early in the morning, hides in the densest thickets or in the trees having the most abundant foliage, and there passes the day silent and motionless. In winter its home is always in the hollow of some old tree trunk. It lays its eggs in the abandoned nests of magpies, crows, buzzards, and kestrels; and these eggs, of a dingy gray color, are about as large as a pullet’s, but nearly round.“The belfry-owl, also known as the barn-owl, is an ungainly bird rather smaller than the howlet. Its plumage, however, is not wanting in elegance, being red on the back, sprinkled with gray and brown and prettily dotted with white points alternating with dark ones, and white underneath, with or without brown spots. The eyes are deep-set and each is encircled by a ring of fine white feathers almost like hair. A little collar bordered with red frames the face. The beak is whitish, and the claws are covered only with a soft white down, very short, under which the pink flesh can be seen. This bird has none of the proud bearing of the eagle-owl and the red owl; it carries itself awkwardly with an embarrassed, almost shamefaced look. Humpbacked[125]and with wings hanging down, face sad and scowling, and legs long and ungainly—such is the barn-owl’s appearance in repose. As if to complete its ungraceful attitude, the bird, whenever anything disturbs it, teeters from side to side in a ludicrous fashion, with haggard eyes and wings slightly raised.”“And what is the teetering for?” asked Jules.“No doubt to frighten its enemy. In time of danger the barn-owl utters a harsh, grating cry—craa! craa! craa!—which often frightens away the enemy. The owl’s habitual cry in the silence of the night is a mournful, heavy breathing not unlike the snoring of a man sleeping with his mouth open. To these cries add the darkness of the night, the near neighborhood of churches and cemeteries, and you will understand how the innocent barn-owl has managed to frighten children, women, and even men; you will be able to see why it has the reputation of being a funeral bird, the bird of death, summoning to the cemetery one of the persons living in the house it visits. The French name,effraie(fright), has reference to these superstitious terrors; it designates the bird that frightens with its nightly chant those who are foolish enough to believe in ghosts and sorcerers.”“It may practise its chant on our roof as much as it likes,” Jules declared boldly; “it won’t scare me a bit.”“Nor would it scare any one else if everybody would listen to reason instead of putting faith in[126]ridiculous stories. Fear, like cruelty, is the daughter of ignorance. Train your reason, accustom yourselves to see things as they really are, and foolish fears will be banished.“The barn-owl also goes by the name of belfry-owl, because it likes to make its home in old church towers. Sometimes it will enter a church by night to hunt mice. Those who first came upon the ill-famed bird near the altar did not fail to accuse it of drinking oil from the lamp or, rather, of eating it when it is congealed by the cold. The charge itself proves its own falsity, as oil cannot congeal in a lamp that is always kept burning. But the slanderers do not trouble themselves about a little thing like that when they wish to blacken the bird’s reputation. They will continue for a long time, if not forever, to regard the owl as a profaner of holy lamps. In Provence they will always call this bird the oil-drinker.“In reality, the barn-owl lives on rats and mice, which it catches in barns and churches; on field-mice, meadow-mice, and dormice, which it hunts in gardens and fields. Here, beyond a doubt, we have a service rendered that ought to make people forget its false reputation, make them like and protect it as it deserves. Will the bird that gives us very real help and is guiltless of a single offense ever be declared innocent? I very much doubt it. Superstition is so deep-rooted that there will never be lacking a One-eyed John to nail a live owl to his door.[127]“The barn-owl likes to live in inhabited regions. The roofs of churches, summits of steeples, high towers—these are its favorite haunts. All day it remains crouching in some dark hole, from which it does not come out until after sunset. Its manner of taking flight deserves mention. First it lets itself fall from the summit of its steeple like a dead weight, and it does not spread its wings until after a rather long vertical drop. It then pursues a zigzag course, making no more noise than if the wind bore it along. It is fond of nesting in abandoned ruins, in the hollow trunks of worm-eaten trees, occasionally in barns, high up on some beam. But it builds no nest to hold its eggs, which are laid on the spot that may have been selected, with no leaves, roots, or hair to serve as bedding. The laying takes place toward the end of March and is limited to five or six white eggs remarkable for their oval shape, an exceptional shape for nocturnal birds of prey. The little ones, with their large eyes, beak stretched open for food, and rumpled down, are the ugliest creatures imaginable. The mother feeds them with insects and bits of mouse-flesh.“The smallest of our hornless owls is the sparrow-owl. Like the red owl, it is about the size of a blackbird. It is dark brown in color, with large white spots of a round or oval shape. The throat is white, and the tail is crossed by four narrow whitish stripes. The sparrow-owl has a quick and light bearing, and it sees by day much better than other night birds; therefore it sometimes chases small[128]birds, but rarely with success. When it has the good luck to catch one it plucks it very clean before eating it, instead of following the gluttonous example of the horned owls and the howlet, which swallow such prey whole and throw the feathers up later. Its hunting expeditions are much more fruitful when directed against field-mice and common mice, which it dismembers before eating. Other owls make but one mouthful of their prey; the sparrow-owl tears to pieces the animal it has caught, perhaps so that it may enjoy the flavor more. To express astonishment, surprise, fear, the barn-owl waddles in a most ridiculous manner; but the sparrow-owl adopts another method: it bows its legs, crouches down, and then abruptly rises, lengthening its neck and turning its head to right and left. You would say it was moved by springs from within. This performance is repeated over and over again, each time accompanied by a clacking of the beak. In flight the bird’s habitual cry ispoo, poo, poo; at rest it saysay-may, aid-may, repeated several times in quick succession in a tone almost human.“The sparrow-owl lives in deserted buildings, quarries, old and dilapidated towers, but never in hollow trees. It frequents the roofs of churches and of village houses. Its nest consists of a hole in a rock or a wall, where it lays four or five round white eggs somewhat speckled with red.”[129]1A name given to the cat inLa Fontaine’s“Fables.”—Translator.↑

CHAPTER XVIOTHER OWLS

“Owls not belonging to the horned class lack, of course, the egrets or plumicorns characteristic of the latter. The largest of the hornless owls is the howlet or tawny owl, which is about as large as one of our domestic hens. The predominating color of its plumage is grayish in the male and reddish in the female, a difference that sometimes causes them to be mistaken for separate species. On this background color is a sprinkling of light brown spots, running lengthwise of the body and less numerous on the breast and stomach than elsewhere. The wings are marked with several large, white, round spots. The head is very large and nearly round, the face sunken in the surrounding feathers and partly concealed by them. The eyes, likewise sunken, are brown and surrounded with small gray feathers.“The name howlet is connected in its derivation with the word howl, and the bird called by that name is indeed remarkable for its cry, not unlike a wolf’s howl. When at the close of a somber winter day the wind whips the snow and moans in the trees, one may often hear a frightful cry, prolonged and mournful, rising from the dark depths of the forest[123]—hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo. Then in the lonely cottage the frightened mother makes the sign of the cross, while her little ones press close to her, crying, and saying, ‘The wolves are coming.’ Don’t be uneasy, good people; it is not a wolf, it is an owlhoo-hooing, sounding its war-cry from the top of some hollow oak and getting ready for its nightly rounds.Gnome-owl with Captured MouseGnome-owl with Captured Mouse“In summer-time the howlet lives in the woods. It hunts by preference field-mice and meadow-mice, which it swallows whole, afterward throwing up the skin and bones rolled into a ball. The little birds that worry it so unmercifully in the daytime, whenever they get a chance to come upon it unawares in the sunlight, are not safe from its beak in the hours of darkness if the night-bird can pounce upon them after first frightening them with its terriblehoo-hoo. Keep as still as mice in your hiding-places, you finches and redbreasts and tomtits, and don’t betray yourselves by giving voice to your alarm. Let the owlhoo-hooas much as it pleases. If you make a sound you are lost.“If the fields prove disappointing as a hunting-ground, the owl makes bold to approach dwelling-houses and finds its way into barns, there to play[124]the part of cat and thus make good the title of ‘hooting cat’ which has been given it. For patience and skill in catching rats and mice it rivals Raminagrobis1himself. It is a guest to be treated with respect when hunger compels it to visit our granaries. After completing its nightly rounds it returns to the woods early in the morning, hides in the densest thickets or in the trees having the most abundant foliage, and there passes the day silent and motionless. In winter its home is always in the hollow of some old tree trunk. It lays its eggs in the abandoned nests of magpies, crows, buzzards, and kestrels; and these eggs, of a dingy gray color, are about as large as a pullet’s, but nearly round.“The belfry-owl, also known as the barn-owl, is an ungainly bird rather smaller than the howlet. Its plumage, however, is not wanting in elegance, being red on the back, sprinkled with gray and brown and prettily dotted with white points alternating with dark ones, and white underneath, with or without brown spots. The eyes are deep-set and each is encircled by a ring of fine white feathers almost like hair. A little collar bordered with red frames the face. The beak is whitish, and the claws are covered only with a soft white down, very short, under which the pink flesh can be seen. This bird has none of the proud bearing of the eagle-owl and the red owl; it carries itself awkwardly with an embarrassed, almost shamefaced look. Humpbacked[125]and with wings hanging down, face sad and scowling, and legs long and ungainly—such is the barn-owl’s appearance in repose. As if to complete its ungraceful attitude, the bird, whenever anything disturbs it, teeters from side to side in a ludicrous fashion, with haggard eyes and wings slightly raised.”“And what is the teetering for?” asked Jules.“No doubt to frighten its enemy. In time of danger the barn-owl utters a harsh, grating cry—craa! craa! craa!—which often frightens away the enemy. The owl’s habitual cry in the silence of the night is a mournful, heavy breathing not unlike the snoring of a man sleeping with his mouth open. To these cries add the darkness of the night, the near neighborhood of churches and cemeteries, and you will understand how the innocent barn-owl has managed to frighten children, women, and even men; you will be able to see why it has the reputation of being a funeral bird, the bird of death, summoning to the cemetery one of the persons living in the house it visits. The French name,effraie(fright), has reference to these superstitious terrors; it designates the bird that frightens with its nightly chant those who are foolish enough to believe in ghosts and sorcerers.”“It may practise its chant on our roof as much as it likes,” Jules declared boldly; “it won’t scare me a bit.”“Nor would it scare any one else if everybody would listen to reason instead of putting faith in[126]ridiculous stories. Fear, like cruelty, is the daughter of ignorance. Train your reason, accustom yourselves to see things as they really are, and foolish fears will be banished.“The barn-owl also goes by the name of belfry-owl, because it likes to make its home in old church towers. Sometimes it will enter a church by night to hunt mice. Those who first came upon the ill-famed bird near the altar did not fail to accuse it of drinking oil from the lamp or, rather, of eating it when it is congealed by the cold. The charge itself proves its own falsity, as oil cannot congeal in a lamp that is always kept burning. But the slanderers do not trouble themselves about a little thing like that when they wish to blacken the bird’s reputation. They will continue for a long time, if not forever, to regard the owl as a profaner of holy lamps. In Provence they will always call this bird the oil-drinker.“In reality, the barn-owl lives on rats and mice, which it catches in barns and churches; on field-mice, meadow-mice, and dormice, which it hunts in gardens and fields. Here, beyond a doubt, we have a service rendered that ought to make people forget its false reputation, make them like and protect it as it deserves. Will the bird that gives us very real help and is guiltless of a single offense ever be declared innocent? I very much doubt it. Superstition is so deep-rooted that there will never be lacking a One-eyed John to nail a live owl to his door.[127]“The barn-owl likes to live in inhabited regions. The roofs of churches, summits of steeples, high towers—these are its favorite haunts. All day it remains crouching in some dark hole, from which it does not come out until after sunset. Its manner of taking flight deserves mention. First it lets itself fall from the summit of its steeple like a dead weight, and it does not spread its wings until after a rather long vertical drop. It then pursues a zigzag course, making no more noise than if the wind bore it along. It is fond of nesting in abandoned ruins, in the hollow trunks of worm-eaten trees, occasionally in barns, high up on some beam. But it builds no nest to hold its eggs, which are laid on the spot that may have been selected, with no leaves, roots, or hair to serve as bedding. The laying takes place toward the end of March and is limited to five or six white eggs remarkable for their oval shape, an exceptional shape for nocturnal birds of prey. The little ones, with their large eyes, beak stretched open for food, and rumpled down, are the ugliest creatures imaginable. The mother feeds them with insects and bits of mouse-flesh.“The smallest of our hornless owls is the sparrow-owl. Like the red owl, it is about the size of a blackbird. It is dark brown in color, with large white spots of a round or oval shape. The throat is white, and the tail is crossed by four narrow whitish stripes. The sparrow-owl has a quick and light bearing, and it sees by day much better than other night birds; therefore it sometimes chases small[128]birds, but rarely with success. When it has the good luck to catch one it plucks it very clean before eating it, instead of following the gluttonous example of the horned owls and the howlet, which swallow such prey whole and throw the feathers up later. Its hunting expeditions are much more fruitful when directed against field-mice and common mice, which it dismembers before eating. Other owls make but one mouthful of their prey; the sparrow-owl tears to pieces the animal it has caught, perhaps so that it may enjoy the flavor more. To express astonishment, surprise, fear, the barn-owl waddles in a most ridiculous manner; but the sparrow-owl adopts another method: it bows its legs, crouches down, and then abruptly rises, lengthening its neck and turning its head to right and left. You would say it was moved by springs from within. This performance is repeated over and over again, each time accompanied by a clacking of the beak. In flight the bird’s habitual cry ispoo, poo, poo; at rest it saysay-may, aid-may, repeated several times in quick succession in a tone almost human.“The sparrow-owl lives in deserted buildings, quarries, old and dilapidated towers, but never in hollow trees. It frequents the roofs of churches and of village houses. Its nest consists of a hole in a rock or a wall, where it lays four or five round white eggs somewhat speckled with red.”[129]

“The name howlet is connected in its derivation with the word howl, and the bird called by that name is indeed remarkable for its cry, not unlike a wolf’s howl. When at the close of a somber winter day the wind whips the snow and moans in the trees, one may often hear a frightful cry, prolonged and mournful, rising from the dark depths of the forest[123]—hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo. Then in the lonely cottage the frightened mother makes the sign of the cross, while her little ones press close to her, crying, and saying, ‘The wolves are coming.’ Don’t be uneasy, good people; it is not a wolf, it is an owlhoo-hooing, sounding its war-cry from the top of some hollow oak and getting ready for its nightly rounds.

Gnome-owl with Captured MouseGnome-owl with Captured Mouse

Gnome-owl with Captured Mouse

“In summer-time the howlet lives in the woods. It hunts by preference field-mice and meadow-mice, which it swallows whole, afterward throwing up the skin and bones rolled into a ball. The little birds that worry it so unmercifully in the daytime, whenever they get a chance to come upon it unawares in the sunlight, are not safe from its beak in the hours of darkness if the night-bird can pounce upon them after first frightening them with its terriblehoo-hoo. Keep as still as mice in your hiding-places, you finches and redbreasts and tomtits, and don’t betray yourselves by giving voice to your alarm. Let the owlhoo-hooas much as it pleases. If you make a sound you are lost.

“If the fields prove disappointing as a hunting-ground, the owl makes bold to approach dwelling-houses and finds its way into barns, there to play[124]the part of cat and thus make good the title of ‘hooting cat’ which has been given it. For patience and skill in catching rats and mice it rivals Raminagrobis1himself. It is a guest to be treated with respect when hunger compels it to visit our granaries. After completing its nightly rounds it returns to the woods early in the morning, hides in the densest thickets or in the trees having the most abundant foliage, and there passes the day silent and motionless. In winter its home is always in the hollow of some old tree trunk. It lays its eggs in the abandoned nests of magpies, crows, buzzards, and kestrels; and these eggs, of a dingy gray color, are about as large as a pullet’s, but nearly round.

“The belfry-owl, also known as the barn-owl, is an ungainly bird rather smaller than the howlet. Its plumage, however, is not wanting in elegance, being red on the back, sprinkled with gray and brown and prettily dotted with white points alternating with dark ones, and white underneath, with or without brown spots. The eyes are deep-set and each is encircled by a ring of fine white feathers almost like hair. A little collar bordered with red frames the face. The beak is whitish, and the claws are covered only with a soft white down, very short, under which the pink flesh can be seen. This bird has none of the proud bearing of the eagle-owl and the red owl; it carries itself awkwardly with an embarrassed, almost shamefaced look. Humpbacked[125]and with wings hanging down, face sad and scowling, and legs long and ungainly—such is the barn-owl’s appearance in repose. As if to complete its ungraceful attitude, the bird, whenever anything disturbs it, teeters from side to side in a ludicrous fashion, with haggard eyes and wings slightly raised.”

“And what is the teetering for?” asked Jules.

“No doubt to frighten its enemy. In time of danger the barn-owl utters a harsh, grating cry—craa! craa! craa!—which often frightens away the enemy. The owl’s habitual cry in the silence of the night is a mournful, heavy breathing not unlike the snoring of a man sleeping with his mouth open. To these cries add the darkness of the night, the near neighborhood of churches and cemeteries, and you will understand how the innocent barn-owl has managed to frighten children, women, and even men; you will be able to see why it has the reputation of being a funeral bird, the bird of death, summoning to the cemetery one of the persons living in the house it visits. The French name,effraie(fright), has reference to these superstitious terrors; it designates the bird that frightens with its nightly chant those who are foolish enough to believe in ghosts and sorcerers.”

“It may practise its chant on our roof as much as it likes,” Jules declared boldly; “it won’t scare me a bit.”

“Nor would it scare any one else if everybody would listen to reason instead of putting faith in[126]ridiculous stories. Fear, like cruelty, is the daughter of ignorance. Train your reason, accustom yourselves to see things as they really are, and foolish fears will be banished.

“The barn-owl also goes by the name of belfry-owl, because it likes to make its home in old church towers. Sometimes it will enter a church by night to hunt mice. Those who first came upon the ill-famed bird near the altar did not fail to accuse it of drinking oil from the lamp or, rather, of eating it when it is congealed by the cold. The charge itself proves its own falsity, as oil cannot congeal in a lamp that is always kept burning. But the slanderers do not trouble themselves about a little thing like that when they wish to blacken the bird’s reputation. They will continue for a long time, if not forever, to regard the owl as a profaner of holy lamps. In Provence they will always call this bird the oil-drinker.

“In reality, the barn-owl lives on rats and mice, which it catches in barns and churches; on field-mice, meadow-mice, and dormice, which it hunts in gardens and fields. Here, beyond a doubt, we have a service rendered that ought to make people forget its false reputation, make them like and protect it as it deserves. Will the bird that gives us very real help and is guiltless of a single offense ever be declared innocent? I very much doubt it. Superstition is so deep-rooted that there will never be lacking a One-eyed John to nail a live owl to his door.[127]

“The barn-owl likes to live in inhabited regions. The roofs of churches, summits of steeples, high towers—these are its favorite haunts. All day it remains crouching in some dark hole, from which it does not come out until after sunset. Its manner of taking flight deserves mention. First it lets itself fall from the summit of its steeple like a dead weight, and it does not spread its wings until after a rather long vertical drop. It then pursues a zigzag course, making no more noise than if the wind bore it along. It is fond of nesting in abandoned ruins, in the hollow trunks of worm-eaten trees, occasionally in barns, high up on some beam. But it builds no nest to hold its eggs, which are laid on the spot that may have been selected, with no leaves, roots, or hair to serve as bedding. The laying takes place toward the end of March and is limited to five or six white eggs remarkable for their oval shape, an exceptional shape for nocturnal birds of prey. The little ones, with their large eyes, beak stretched open for food, and rumpled down, are the ugliest creatures imaginable. The mother feeds them with insects and bits of mouse-flesh.

“The smallest of our hornless owls is the sparrow-owl. Like the red owl, it is about the size of a blackbird. It is dark brown in color, with large white spots of a round or oval shape. The throat is white, and the tail is crossed by four narrow whitish stripes. The sparrow-owl has a quick and light bearing, and it sees by day much better than other night birds; therefore it sometimes chases small[128]birds, but rarely with success. When it has the good luck to catch one it plucks it very clean before eating it, instead of following the gluttonous example of the horned owls and the howlet, which swallow such prey whole and throw the feathers up later. Its hunting expeditions are much more fruitful when directed against field-mice and common mice, which it dismembers before eating. Other owls make but one mouthful of their prey; the sparrow-owl tears to pieces the animal it has caught, perhaps so that it may enjoy the flavor more. To express astonishment, surprise, fear, the barn-owl waddles in a most ridiculous manner; but the sparrow-owl adopts another method: it bows its legs, crouches down, and then abruptly rises, lengthening its neck and turning its head to right and left. You would say it was moved by springs from within. This performance is repeated over and over again, each time accompanied by a clacking of the beak. In flight the bird’s habitual cry ispoo, poo, poo; at rest it saysay-may, aid-may, repeated several times in quick succession in a tone almost human.

“The sparrow-owl lives in deserted buildings, quarries, old and dilapidated towers, but never in hollow trees. It frequents the roofs of churches and of village houses. Its nest consists of a hole in a rock or a wall, where it lays four or five round white eggs somewhat speckled with red.”[129]

1A name given to the cat inLa Fontaine’s“Fables.”—Translator.↑

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