PACIFIC HORNED OWL 339 



re-acting to the invader, the owl is not disturbed by people. * * * 

 There is honor (or fear) among thieves, for each bird seems to re- 

 spect the other's territory." 



We do not usually think of horned owls as able to swim, yet Sumner 

 says in his notes, of young Pacific horned owls not yet normally out 

 of their nests: "When I arrived at the nest on April 20, 1931, the 

 youngster, then 30 days old, backed up with snapping beak, so hard 

 and fast that he tumbled from the nest, bounced off the wooden rim of 

 my canvas platform beneath, struck a branch below T , rebounded from 

 there to another branch, and landed with a splash in Mud Slough. 

 For five or six whole minutes he crouched half submerged in the water, 

 looking about from side to side but not attempting to swim. By and 

 by the young owl began to shiver, making little ripples by his quaking, 

 and after a minute or so of this, and with a couple of preliminary 

 glances behind at the willow from which he had fallen, he turned, and 

 w T ith his wings (I couldn't see his feet) struck out strongly, using the 

 left one more than the right because he was making a right turn, and 

 headed for a stranded branch lying just above water level. When he 

 reached it, he hooked first his beak over it and then tried to grasp it 

 with his claws and scramble up, but it was 5 inches thick, with the 

 under side in w T ater, and he could only make it with one claw, so he 

 hooked his beak over the edge and hung there shivering, with every 

 now and then another attempt for 10 minutes or so. Several minutes 

 later the young owl, by frantic efforts, at last clambered up upon the 

 log and stood there, very wet beneath, and very quiet. The next 

 day the youngster went off the nest onto the canvas platform, front- 

 ward this time, and then, standing on the edge, looked, hesitated, and 

 deliberately jumped down with flapping wings into the water and 

 immediately oared across to the opposite shore." Mr. Sumner later 

 threw another similar youngster into the water. It seemed not in 

 the least put out, but, after a slight pause upon landing in the water, 

 swam to shore, using his legs more than his'wings, perhaps because he 

 might have been able to touch bottom. "At another nest the young 

 jumped into the water when I was still 10 feet from the tree and 

 floated for at least 5 minutes down the stream without moving a 

 muscle except to turn its head and stare at me. I left him standing 

 in the water, apparently little perturbed." 



Voice. — Vocal efforts are much like those described for other sub- 

 species. Sometimes several owls join in making night hideous. At 

 such times it is easy to tell that some individuals have weak, feminine 

 calls while others have much more deep, bass-toned, and booming 

 ones. While the voices of different owls are variously pitched, any 

 one bird calls all night in the same pitch. Late in winter or early in 

 spring, before nesting begins, horned owls often call all night long. 



