ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE OWLS
American Barred Owls
The best-known North American species is the common Barred Owl (Syrnium varium) of the eastern United States and Canada and westward to the Mississippi Valley and Texas. It is a large bird, between nineteen and twenty-four inches in length, being next to the Great Horned Owl in size, and almost as voracious. It mostly frequents heavily timbered regions, preferably swampy tracts near watercourses, and is nocturnal in habits, although not from any defect of vision, for it sees well during daylight. It remains concealed in hollow trees or dense timber and comes forth at evening to seek its prey, which consists of mice, squirrels, rabbits, frogs, crawfish, and occasionally poultry.
It is one of the most noisy of our Owls, particularly during the nesting season, its loud, unearthly, and weird hoo-hoo, ho-ho-ho-ho-ho, hoo-hoo-to-to, (oo-o, being very frequently heard. For a nesting site they usually select a natural cavity in a tree, but in the absence of a suitable situation of this character they may take the abandoned nest of a Hawk or Crow; they are much attached to the site selected and return again and again even when robbed of eggs or young.
At the bottom of the cavity, without much attempt at nest making, they deposit from two to four pure white and slightly granulated or roughened eggs. A slightly darker colored and naked-toed race, known as the Florida Barred Owl (S. v. alleni), occurs in the Gulf States from Florida to Texas, and a more spotted
The Spotted Owl
(S. occidentale) from the tablelands of Mexico northward into the contiguous states of the United States. A subspecies of the latter, known as the Northern Spotted Owl (S. o. caurinum), occurs in western Washington and British Columbia. Their habits are presumably similar.
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