36 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



else ; and Dr. WoocHjouse speaks of it as very common in the Indian Terri- 

 tories, and also in Texas and New Mexico, especially in the timbered lands 

 bordering the streams and ponds of tliat region. In July, 1846, while in 

 pursuit of shore birds in the island of Muskeget, near Nantucket, in the 

 middle of a bright day, I was surprised by meeting one of these birds, 

 which, uninvited, joined us in the hunt, and when shot proved to be a fine 

 male adult specimen. 



The Barred Owl was found in great abundance in Florida by IMr. J. A. 

 Allen, the only species of Owl at all common, and where its ludicrous notes 

 were heard at night everywhere, and even occasionally in the daytime. At 

 night they not unfrequently startle the traveller by their strange utterances 

 from the trees directly over his head. 



Mr. Dresser speaks of it as very abundant at all seasons of the year in 

 the wooded parts of Texas. He was not able to find its nest, but was told 

 by the hunters that they build in hollow trees, near the banks of the 

 rivers. 



According to Mr. Downes, this Owl is common throughout Nova Scotia, 

 where it is resident, and never leaves its particular neighborhood. It breeds 

 in the woods throughout all parts of that colony, and was observed by him 

 to feed on hares, spruce and ruffed grouse, and other birds. It is said to 

 , be a quite common event for this bird to make its appearance at midnight 

 about the camp-fires of the moose-hunter and tire lumberer,- and to disturb 

 their slumbers with its cries, as with a demoidacal expression it peers into 

 the glare of the embers. Distending its throat and pushing its head for- 

 ward, it gives utterance to unearthly sounds that to the superstitious are 

 quite appalling. 



Mr. Wilson regarded this species as one of the most common of the Owls 

 in tlie lower parts of Pennsylvania, where it was particularly numerous in 

 winter, among the woods that border the extensive meadows of- the Schuyl- 

 kill and the Delaware Elver. He frequently observed it flying during the 

 day, when it seemed to be able to see quite distinctly. He met with more 

 than forty of these birds in one spring, either flying or sitting exposed in 

 the davtime, and once discovered one of its nests situated in the crotch 

 of a white oak, among thick foliage, and containing three young. It 

 was rudely put together, made outwardly of sticks, intermixed with dry 

 grasses and leaves, and lined with smaller twigs. He adds that this Owl 

 screams in the day in the manner of a Hawk. Nuttall characterizes their 

 peculiar hooting as a loud guttural call, which he expresses by Iwh-koh-ho- 

 'ko-'Jio, or as 'tvhah-whah-ivhah-wJiah-aa, heard occasionally both by day and 

 by night. It is a note of recognition, and may be easily imitated, and can be 

 used as a means to decoy the birds. Nuttall received a specimen that had 

 been shot in November, hovering, in the daytime, over a covey of Quail. 



Mr. Audubon speaks of the peculiar hooting cries of this species as 

 strangely ludicrous in sound, and as suggestive of an affected burst of 



