Editorial Note: We are Fortunate, indeed, to be able to present to our readers this little personal story out of the liFe of one of Ameri.ca's greatest naturalists. The pen and ink sketches are From Dr. Verrill's pen and he hirrtselFis shown with Oswald perched on his/shoulder.
O:swald ~
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SHORTtime ago while listening to a radio broadcast, I heard a man declare that it was impossible to tame the large owls, such as the barred owl and great horned owl. It was not the first time I had heard this assertion, for again and again scientists and naturalists, as well as dealers in wild birds and animals, have stated in positive terms that the large owls are untamable. Yet, at the very time when the radio speaker was informing the world at large that a barred owl cannot be tamed, a full-grown barred owl was perched upon my shoulder and was nuzzling my ear with his powerful yellow bill begging to be fondled and petted. And when I finally shut '
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~ the receiver and yielded to my pet's de~ands, I wondered what he would havcto sayan the subject could he
express his opinion. Perhaps Oswald, as we named him, is an exception to the rule that supposedly applies to all of his race. Perhaps all Florida barred owls are tamable and differ from their northern cousins in temperament more than in external appearance, for, aside from being somewhat smaller and darker colored, the Florida birds are indistinguishable from those of our northern states. Whatever the reason., Oswald is not only a tame, barred -owl, but an exceedingly tame bird, far tamer than any . parrot or dove or canary I have ever seen. He is as playful and as gentle as a puppy and has never even offered to bite or scratch anyone during the fourteen months I have -owned him. He loves to bep~tted, to have his big ears scratched and to "shake hands" with his powerful feet armed with long, needle-sharp talons. But he is very careful never to touch one's finger with the points of his claws and
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even.when;he is most excited and full of "pep" he never forgets himself and nips too hard with his beak. Oswald's tameness and docility are all the more remarkable, because he was not reared from a nestling, but was fully grown and as wild as any owl when I first secured him. I was collecting birds in a cypress swamp and seeing a big, barred owl which I wished for a specimen, high up in a tree covered with Spanish moss, I fired at him. The owl came tumbling down, but when I went to pick him up I found that he was still very much alive. In fact ,he appeared to be uninjured aside from the tip of one wing which had been broken by a single shot. Neither did he show fight as do most wounded owls, and, although he fluffed up his feathers and snapped his bill viciously, he made no attempt to bite or strike out with his feet when I approached him. Thinking he might make an interesting pet, I coaxed him to perch upon a stout stick and~with my companion's help carried him back to camp. Ntting on
thick gloves, I prepared to fix his broken wing
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fully ex-""'"
pecting he would bite and scratch and ,put up a savage fight. But, to my amazement, he allowed me to set the bone, clip off the long feathers to lighten the wing, and bandage the injured portion without offering any resistance. In the big roomy cage I prepared for him, the o.)\'J seemed perfectly content and eagerly seized and devoured the bodies of the small birds I skinned. The next day a lit~ tle girl who was watching the owl offered him a pjec~e"'of the cooky she was eating, and to my utter astonishment, Oswald took it from her fingers and ate it. By the next day he allowed us to stroke his head, and from that time on he became tamer and more docile every day. During the nights he would sometimes hoot and utter strange cries which no one would ever have suspected came from an owl's throat, and soon dozens of wild owls would . come flocking about the camp, chuckling, hooting, and seemingly carrying on real conversations with their caged fellow. Oswald, however, had no desire to return to the