62 BIRDS OF PREY. 



Florida, and in Oregon ; it exists even beyond the tropics, 

 being very' probably the same bird described by Marcgrave as 

 inhabiting the forests of Brazil. All climates are alike to this 

 Eagle of the night, the king of the nocturnal tribe of American 

 birds. The aboriginal inhabitants of the country dread his 

 boding howl, dedicating his effigies to their solemnities, and, as 

 if he were their sacred bird of Minerva, forbid the mockery of 

 his ominous, dismal, and almost supernatural cries. His favor- 

 ite resort, in the dark and impenetrable swampy forests, where 

 he dwells in chosen solitude 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 soUtary. Among the choking, loud, guttural 

 sounds which he sometimes utters in the dead of night, and 

 with a suddenness which always alarms, because of his noiseless 

 approach, is the \vaugh ho .' 'luaiigh ho ! which, Wilson re- 

 marks, was often uttered at the instant of sweeping down 

 around his camp-fire. Many kinds of Owls are similarly daz- 

 zled 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 "'IVAo 'cooks for 

 you all !'" and with a strong guttural pronunciation of the final 

 syllable, to all those who have heard this his 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 ha\-e 

 mentioned makes no inconsiderable approach to that uttered 

 by the European brother of our species, as given by Buffon, 

 namely, 'he-hoo, 'hoo-hoo, boo-hoo, etc. The Greeks called this 

 transatlantic species Byas, either from its note or from the 

 resemblance this bore to the bellowing of the ox. The Latin- 

 name Bubo has also reference to the same note of this noc- 



