GREAT HORNED OWL, OR CAT OWL. 127 



the ground before he could disengage himself from the 

 feline grasp.* 



An Owl of this species, which I have observed in a 

 cage, appeared very brisk late in the morning, hissed 

 and blew when approached with a stick, and dashed at 

 it very heedlessly with his bill ; he now and then uttered 

 a 'ko-koh, and was pretty loud in his call at an earlier 

 hour. When approached, he circularly contracted the 

 iris of the eyes to obtain a clearer view of the threatened 

 object ; he also listened with great quickness to any 

 sound which occurred near his prison, and eyed the 

 flying pigeons, which passed by at some distance, with a 

 scrutinizing and eager glance. When fed, he often had 

 the habit of hiding away his superfluous provision. 



As far as I have been able to observe the retiring man- 

 ners of this recluse, he slumbers out the day chiefly in 

 the dark tops of lofty trees. In these, according to 

 Wilson, he generally begins to build in the month of 

 May, though probably earlier in the Southern States. 

 The nest is usually placed in the fork of a tree, made of 

 a considerable pile of sticks, and lined with dry leaves 

 and some feathers: and, as a saving of labor, sometimes 

 they select a hollow tree for the purpose. The eggs are 

 said to be 4, round, of nearly the size of those of a com- 

 mon hen and equally white ; those of the Buho, often de- 

 posited in the crannies of ruins, or holes of rocks, only 

 2 and rarely 3, exceed in size the egg of the domestic 

 fowl, and are also of the same color. 



The male of this species is about 20 inches in length. The bill is 

 black. The irids bright yellow. The horns are broad, and 3 inches 

 in length, formed of 12 or 14 feathers, with black webs and edged 

 with brownish yellow; the face ferruginous, bounded by a band of 

 black ; a whitish space between the bill and eyes. Beneath, marked 



* A Mr. Barlow, who saw this cnconnter, published a drawing of the action as he 

 had witnessed it. 



