Otus asio, the Screech Owl, are the scientific and common names of our little friend Solomon. Perhaps the fact that owls stand upright and gaze at one with both eyes to the front, accounts in part for their looking so wise that they have been used as a symbol of wisdom for many centuries.
In the Library of Congress in Washington, there is a picture called "The Boy of Winander." When looking at this, or some copy of it, it is pleasant to remember the lines of Wordsworth's poem:—
There was a Boy; ye knew him well, ye cliffs
And islands of Winander!—many a time,
At evening, when the earliest stars began
To move along the edges of the hills,
Rising or setting, would he stand alone,
Beneath the trees, or by the glimmering lake;
And there, with fingers interwoven, both hands
Pressed closely palm to palm and to his mouth
Uplifted, he, as through an instrument,
Blew music hootings to the silent owls,
That they might answer him.
Following are a few references to Screech Owls:—
Handbook of Nature-Study (Comstock), pages 104-07.
Some Common Game, Aquatic and Rapacious Birds (McAtee and Beal), pages 27-28.
Our Backdoor Neighbors (Pellet), pages 63-74; "The Neighborly Screech Owls."
My Pets (Saunders), pages 11-33.
Birds in their Relation to Man (Weed and Dearborn), page 199.
Educational Leaflet No. 11. (National Association of Audubon Societies.)