312 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



far in quest of something to eat. On the other hand, the owls of no. 24, finding 

 comparatively "lean pickings" near home, had to take almost anything they could 

 get. 



Mr. Forbush (1927) writes: "European Hares had been introduced 

 by someone in eastern New York near the Massachusetts line and had 

 increased rapidly in numbers and spread into western Massachusetts 

 where they had become a serious pest to the farmer and orchardist. 

 In November and December of 1919 a flight of owls came into that 

 region and Mr. Walter Pritchard Eaton told me that numbers were 

 heard about the mountain in Sheffield. There they preyed upon the 

 hares. * * * These owls overran the region and many returned 

 the next winter. The following spring European Hares were very 

 scarce in that country." 



To illustrate the value of the great horned owl as a ratter, H. A. 

 Surface (1904) published part of a letter from O. E. Niles, from which 

 I quote as follows: "In the nest where he captured the young owls 

 he noticed several full-grown Norway rats, with their skulls opened 

 and the brains removed. On descending to the ground he also noticed 

 the bodies of many rats around the tree, and out of curiosity counted 

 them, and found the bodies of one hundred and thirteen rats, most of 

 them full grown. They all appeared to simply have had their skulls 

 opened and the brains removed; and from their undecayed appear- 

 ance, must all have been captured within the previous week or ten 

 days." 



Behavior. — The silent flight of the great horned owl is powerful, 

 swift, and graceful. When leaving a perch, it flaps its great wings 

 heavily and rapidly, with its feet dangling; the feet are soon drawn 

 up into the plumage and the wings spread, as it glides swiftly away 

 for a long period of sailing on fixed wings. It threads its way with 

 perfect precision through the branches of the forest trees, or glides 

 at low levels over the open meadows, where it can drop swiftly and 

 silently on its unsuspecting prey. I have several times seen it soaring 

 high in the air on a bright day, with all the grace and power of an 

 eagle or a large Buteo, for its eyesight is perfect, and it hunts by day 

 as well as by night. 



The strength and endurance of this owl, as well as its failure to 

 learn by experience, are illustrated by a case reported by Dr. Sutton 

 (1929a); an owl was caught in a steel trap but flew away with the 

 trap, which was not securely fastened; two days later the owl was 

 caught by the other foot in another trap set on the same post. Rev. 

 J. J. Murray writes to me of a similar case: "A farmer, who had been 

 losing his chickens and turkeys, set some steel traps in his chicken 

 yard. Hearing a commotion one night, he got out to the hennery 

 just in time to see a large owl fly away with a trap, the chain having 

 been broken by its struggles. A week later the owl returned and the 



