GREAT HORNED OWL 317 



others have described. There is a sexual difference in the notes, the 

 voice of the supposed male being pitched on a lower key, perhaps 

 three or even four half-tones lower; his notes are more prolonged and 

 elaborate, rich, deep, and mellow; hers are usually shorter, simpler, 

 and softer. 



I once watched a female hooting at short range, while I was at the 

 nest. She was perched on a tree within ten yards of me, bristling up 

 her plumage, with half open wings, snapping her beak, and hooting 

 softly. She generally leaned forward in a nearly horizontal position 

 while hooting, and I could plainly see the vibration of her white 

 throat. Once she became more excited and gave a louder, more 

 vehement laughing note, ivha, whaart. 



Mr. Shelley writes to me of an unusual demonstration that he 

 heard one night, while he was out coon hunting: "There were three 

 birds at least, and their increased hooting and following display may 

 have been occasioned some by our flashlights, as we approached and 

 attempted to spot the birds themselves. Anyhow, their ordinary 

 hooting was changed to weird, hollow-toned, and idiotic laughter. 

 They flapped from tree to tree with much noise and gave a chuckling 

 noise meanwhile. There were variations in the hooting: Whoo-who- 

 who-whoo-who-who-oo-oo, one would call; and another, whar, who, 

 whar, oo-who-o-o-o-ooh, ending in a throaty chuckle. And they 

 would make a great din flapping their wings. One particular bird 

 liked best its eerie and idiotic laughing call, depicted by the following 

 phrasing: Whar, whah, wha-a-a-a-ah, the accent on the last syllable 

 of each whah; it had a carrying quality similar to the water-pumping 

 note of the bittern." 



Mr. Norton (1928) heard a variety of other notes from the female 

 of the pair he was watching, such as "ankl; ankt; ankl; in a key higher 

 than her usual one. * * * Sometimes she called in a hawk-like 

 note, ke-yah, ke-yah. * * * The female called twice from the 

 nest, in feeble tones, erk, erk. * * * From the direction of the 

 nest a meow like that of a cat was heard." 



Many other observers have given somewhat similar renderings of 

 what were probably the same notes that I have attempted to describe 

 above. But I suspect that some unusual notes, ascribed to this owl, 

 have been those of the barred owl, wrongly identified. Clarence F. 

 Stone tells me that the loud, harsh, blood-curdling screams referred 

 to above are the food calls of the yearling young, heard through the 

 first summer and fall, and are not uttered by adults. 



William Brewster (1936) says of a young owl that he had in captivity: 

 "At intervals of from one to five minutes during the night and occasion- 

 ally by day, as well, it uttered a short, harsh, penetrating cry which 

 was not unlike the peep of Chordeiles and which, no doubt, was 

 merely a variation — perhaps characteristic of very young birds — of 



