150 OUR WINTEJ^ BIRDS 



The Great Horned Owl disappears with the for- 

 ests. His wild nature requires more than a small 

 patch of woodland for a home; so he Is rare or un- 

 known In more settled regions. Able to provide for 

 a family at any time of the year, he does not wait 

 until late spring or early summer, when food Is more 

 abundant, before going to housekeeping. The Great 

 Horned Is indeed the first of our birds to nest; its 

 two or three white eggs being laid in an old Crow, 

 Hawk, or Squirrel nest as early as the latter part 

 of February. I knew of one nest from which an 

 icicle was hanging while the mother Owl sat on her 

 eggs above. Fortunate it Is that the young Owls 

 are born clad in a thick suit of warm, white down. 



You are far more likely to hear the Great Horned 

 Owl than to see him; but when seen he may always 

 be known by his conspicuous feather "horns" and 

 large size. The Long-eared, Short-eared and 

 Screech, our only other Owls with "horns" or "ears," 

 are, as our plate shows, less than half his size. 



In the Screech Owl these feather-tufts are enough 

 like cat's ears to give this little Owl the name of 

 "Cat Owl," but there is small resemblance between 

 even a cat's ears and the feather-tufts of the Long- 

 eared Owl, which, if feathers must be called either 

 "ears" or "horns," might better be known as Long- 

 horned Owl. 



