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Horned and Hoot Owls
Like the osprey in the hawk group, owls have a peculiarly flexible, reversible hind toe; eyes not capable of being rolled but set firmly in the sockets, necessitating the turning of the head to see in different directions; feathered discs around the eyes; loose, mottled plumage, some species with feathered ear tufts (horns), others without; hooked beaks and muscular feet for perching and for grasping prey:--these are their chief characteristics. Birds of the woodland, more rarely of grassy marshes and plains, nearly all nocturnal in habits, since their food consists mostly of small mammals that steal abroad at night to destroy the farmer's crops, the owls are among the most valuable of birds to the agriculturist. Unless too large, the prey is bolted entire-the hair, claws, bones, etc., being afterward ejected in matted pellets.
