THE HAWK OWL. 73 



secure from the approach of every enemy, agrees with the melancholy 

 and sinister traits of his character. To the surrounding feathered race 

 he is the Pluto of the gloomy wilderness, and would scarcely be known 

 out of the dismal shades where he hides, but to his victims, were he 

 as silent as he is solitary. Among the choking, loud, gutteral sounds 

 which he sometimes utters, in the dead of night, and with a suddenness 

 which always alarms, because of his noiseless approach, is the ^waugh 

 hd/ ^waugh hd I which, Wilson remarks, was often uttered at the instant 

 of sweeping down around his camp-fire. Many kinds of Owls are 

 similarly dazzled and attracted by fire-lights, and occasionally finding 

 no doubt, some offal or flesh, thrown out by those who encamp in the 

 wilderness, they come round the nocturnal blaze with other motives 

 than barely those of curiosity. The solitary travellers in these wilds, 

 apparently scanning the sinister motive of his visits, pretend to interpret 

 his address into "' Who cooks for you allT and with a strong gutteral 

 pronunciation of the final syllable, to all those who have heard this 

 Lis common cry, the resemblance of sound is well hit, and instantly 

 recalls the ghastly serenade of his nocturnal majesty in a manner which 

 is not easily forgotten. The shorter cry, which we have mentioned, 

 makes no inconsiderable approach to that uttered by the European 

 brother of our species, as given by Buffon, namely, ^he-hoo, ^hoo-hoo, 

 hoo-hoo, &c. The Greeks called this transatlantic species Byas, either 

 from its note, or from the resemblance this bore to the bellowing of an 

 Ox. The Latin name Bubo has also reference to the same note of this 

 nocturnal bird. According to Frisch, who kept one of these birds 

 alive, its cries varied according to circumstance^ ; when hungry it had 

 a muling cry like Puhc I have remarked the young, probably, of 

 our species utter the same low, quailing cry, while yet daylight, as it 

 sat on the low branch of a tree ; the sound of both is, at times, also not 

 unlike that made by the Hawks or diurnal birds of prey. Indeed in 

 gloomy weather, I have seen our species on the alert, flying about 

 many hours before dark, and uttering his call of '/fco ko, ko ko ho. 

 Their usual prey is young Rabbits, Squirrels, Rats, Mice, Quails, and 

 small birds of various kinds, and when these resources fail or diminish 

 they occasionally prowl pretty boldly around the farm-yard in quest 

 of chickens, which they seize on the roost. Indeed the European 

 Horned Owl frequently contends with the Buzzard for its prey, and 

 generally comes off conqueror ; blind and infuriate with hunger, one 

 ■of these has been known to dart even upon a man, as if for conflict, 

 and was killed in the encounter. 



THE HAWK OWL. 



This remarkable species, forming a connecting link with the preceding 

 genus of the Hawks, is nearly confined to the Arctic wilds of both 

 continents, being frequent in Siberia and the fur countries from Hudson's 

 Bay to the Pacific. A few stragglers, now and then, at distant intervals 

 and in the depths of winter, penetrate on the one side into the northern 

 parts of the United States ; and, on the other, they occasionally appear 



