“Those two things like horns that the eagle-owl has on its head—are they ears?” asked Emile.
“No, my boy, they are egrets, upstanding feathers that give the bird a warlike appearance. Its ears are not visible, being hidden by the plumage. They are very large and deep, which explains why the eagle-owl’s hearing is so wonderfully acute.”
“The eagle-owl,” Louis here observed, “eats field-mice and rats, for which it is to be thanked; but it also eats young hares and young rabbits. Isn’t that a pity?”
“For the hunter, I admit; but for the farmer it is quite another thing. Don’t forget that the hare and the rabbit belong to the order of rodents; they have incisors which spare nothing in the fields. If they were left to breed in peace they would prove a serious menace to our crops. History tells of countries so ravaged by rabbits that it became necessary to send an army to help the inhabitants get rid of them. We shall never reach that condition, I am sure; but it is no cause for regret that the eagle-owl, jointly with the hunter, keeps the animals within tolerable bounds. Moreover, the bird is very scarce [[117]]everywhere. One pair of these birds in a year is the most that you will find in the mountains about here. An extensive hunting-ground is required by such big eaters if they are not to starve one another out.
“I have a more serious complaint to bring against the eagle-owl: when it cannot find its favorite game—meadow-mice, field-mice, and rats—it contents itself with bats, snakes, toads, lizards, and frogs, and thus deprives us of some of our best protectors. Be assured, once for all, that while we have some irreproachable helpers, there are also others that from our point of view are guilty of a good many misdeeds. Bear in mind the mole, which throws up the earth and cuts the roots of plants in its war on insects. No animal gives a moment’s thought to man—except the dog, who is our friend even more than he is our servant. No other pays any heed to our interests; all work for themselves and their young. If their instinct prompts them to destroy only species harmful to us, so much the better: they are excellent helpers; but if they hunt both harmful and helpful species, we must balance the total good against the total harm that they do. If the good tips the scale, let us respect the animal: it is a helper. If it does more harm than good, let us declare war on the creature: it is a ravager. The eagle-owl catches in the fields such formidable hoarders of grain as field-mice and hamsters; in gardens, dormice and other lovers of fruit; in the neighborhood of our houses, ordinary mice and rats, [[118]]and even the horrible Norway rat. There you have the plea for the defendant. On the other hand, the hunter charges the bird with killing a certain number of young rabbits incautiously taking a taste or two of wild thyme by moonlight, and with appropriating a few young hares that would otherwise be eaten by human beings. For my part, I accuse it of feeding its young on the serviceable toad, the useful snake, and the cricket-eating lizard. There you have the prosecutor’s charge. But, the balance being struck, the bird’s services are found to outweigh its misdeeds, and I declare that the eagle-owl deserves well of the farmer.”
“It is a unanimous verdict,” declared Jules.
“The common horned owl, or lesser eagle-owl,” Uncle Paul continued, “is much like the bird we have been discussing, only it is far smaller, being very little larger than a crow, while the other is the size of a goose. It is the commonest of all the nocturnal birds of prey in these regions. In the night hours throughout the summer it keeps repeating, in melancholy accents, its long-drawn and doleful cry of cloo-cloo, which can be heard a long way off. Just as it takes flight it gives a sort of bitter sigh, made no doubt by the air expelled from its lungs by the effort of the wings at the moment of flying off. In the daytime, confronted by human beings, this bird wears a dazed and foolish expression. It snaps its beak, stamps its feet, and moves its big head abruptly up and down and from side to side. If attacked by too strong an enemy, it lies down on its back and [[119]]threatens its foe with claws and beak. It inhabits ruined buildings, caves in rocks, and the hollow trunks of old trees. Seldom does it take the trouble to build a nest of its own, preferring to patch up one that has been deserted by a magpie or a buzzard. There it lays four or five round white eggs. I will remark in passing that the eggs of nocturnal birds of prey are not oval like hens’ eggs, but more nearly round. The hunting habits of the horned owl are like those of the eagle-owl: it has the same liking for rodents such as field-mice, rats, ordinary mice, and meadow-mice; it pounces upon young rabbits in the same manner, after patiently watching for them at the mouth of the burrow. Now let us pass on to another species.
Virginia Horned Owl
“The short-horned owl, or large sparrow-owl, resembles the lesser eagle-owl in plumage and size. The two egrets or plumicorns are very short, and they seldom stand erect as in the two preceding species. Because of the shortness of these ‘horns,’ the large sparrow-owl is often taken for a hornless owl. This species is seldom seen near dwelling-houses, preferring rocks, quarries, and ruined and solitary castles. It builds no nest, but is content to [[120]]lay in a hole in some wall or rock two or three white eggs, shiny and round, and about as large as pigeons’ eggs. Its usual cry is goo, uttered rather softly; but if rain is coming the cry is changed to goyoo. Its diet is mostly confined to field-mice and meadow-mice.