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The weight of the male is about seven pounds, of the female between 
seven and eight pounds. The tufts are formed of seven, or eight 
to twelve, dark feathers, barred with light-brown on their inner 
webs; they are about two inches and a half in length. The 
wings are very large, broad, and rounded ; they expand to the 
width of about five feet one inch, and their aspect when 
outstretched is truly magnificent. The nest is very large, and 
is placed on rocks or old ruins, amid the desolate sterility of the 
bleak hill or wild unsheltered mountain. It is composed of 
branches and sticks, and lined with leaves and straw. The eggs 
are two or threein number. The food of the Eagle Owl consists 
of even the larger animals, such as fawns and lambs, hares, rabbits, 
rats, mice, and moles ; birds; capercailzie, pheasants, partridges, 
crows, rooks ; as also snakes, lizards, frogs, and even insects and 
fish, all indeed seem to be fish that comes to its net. There is 
a strong connecting link between this bird and the Eagle. In 
moving on the ground, the action of this bird is by a series of 
jumps, aided by the wings—it does not walk. A Swedish 
gentleman resided several years on a farm near a steep mountain, 
on the summit of which two Eagle Owls had built their nest. 
In the month of July, a young bird, having quitted the nest, was 
caught by the servants. After it was caught it was shut up in a 
large hen-coop. The gentleman was surprised on the following 
morning to find a young partridge lying dead before the door of 
the coop, and this was continued for sometime. In the month of 
August the attention on the part of the old birds ceased ; but this 
is the usual period when all birds of prey abandon their young to 
their own exertions, and usually drive them off to shift for them- 
selves. The note of this bird resembles the bark of a small dog, 
varied sometimes by a hoot, accompanied by a snapping of the 
bill and hissing. The female has, in addition, a screech in the 
breeding season. The young utters a continual hissing and piping 
noise. The Eagle Owl is easily reconciled to confinement ; and 
in two instances have been known to breed in captivity. 
