548 REPTILES AND BIRDS, 
across. Its eyes are large and fixed, with black pupils surrounded 
with yellow. It bears light with less inconvenience than the other 
nocturnal birds, and therefore goes out sooner in the evening and 
returns home later in the morning. This bird makes its home among 
the clefts of rocks on mountain sides, rarely leaving elevated ground 
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Fig. 254.—Great Owl. 
to descend into the plain, even when hunting. Its cry, Auibou, 
houhou, bouhou, owhou, re-echoing in the silence of night, is a source 
of terror to the rest of the feathered creation. It feeds also upon 
hares, rabbits, moles, rats, and mice. When rearing its young, which 
are very voracious, it even devours toads, frogs, and small reptiles. ‘ 
