BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 273 



of many parts, placed like the staves of a cask, overlapping a 

 little at the narrow end, and capable apparently of being en- 

 larged or contracted. The eye being thus fixed, the owl, in 

 order to see any object is obliged to turn its head, and has the 

 power to move it round, almost in a perfect circle. 



The Red Owl, Strix asio, rears its young in Massachusetts ; 

 it lays from four to six eggs, in a hollow tree, with a lining of 

 hay or leaves. As soon as the young are hatched, it makes 

 liberal provision of food for them. It is the small birds which 

 suffer on these occasions, and it is in revenge for this carnage, 

 that they pursue the owl with so much detestation. 



The Great horned or Cat Owl, Strix Virginiana, is well 

 known, though not much to his advantage, in consequence of 

 his depredations on the domestic poultry. Being one of the 

 largest and strongest of his tribe, more than two feet in length 

 and four in extent, with energy and courage in proportion, he 

 is capable of making great destruction in solitary farm yards, 

 especially when he adds to his powers of mischief, a caution 

 and cunning, in which even the cat does not exceed him. 

 This, however, is one of those evils which lessen as the popu- 

 lation inci eases, so that in our state, though most villagers are 

 acquainted with the bird, there is not much complaint made 

 of his depredations. 



The flight of this owl is easy and graceful : when it dis- 

 cerns its prey, it falls upon it so swiftly that escape is impossi- 

 ble. Hardly anything comes amiss to its voracious appetite, 

 but it prefers the larger gallinaceous birds, and delights partic- 

 ularly in any fish that chance may throw upon the shore. Its 

 cries are loud and shrill, sometimes resembling the barking of 

 a dog ; at other times, they are compared to the last gurglings 

 of a murdered man striving in vain to call for help. When 

 wounded, it resists with great fierceness, striking with its bill 

 and claws, its large eyes opening and shutting in quick suc- 

 cession, and its feathers rising so as to double its apparent size. 



The great horned owl is one of those which rear their young 

 35 



