68 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



or late in the afternoon. When detected in its hiding-place by the Jay, 

 Crow, or King-bird, and driven forth by their annoyances, it labors nnder 

 great disadvantages, and flies at random in a hesitating flight, until twilight 

 enables it to retaliate npon its tormentors. Tlie hooting and nocturnal cries 

 of the Great Horned Owl are a remarkable feature in its habits. These are 

 chiefly during its breeding-season, especially the peculiar loud and vociferous 

 cries known as its hooting. At times it will utter a sinojle shriek, soundinsj- 

 like the yell of some unearthly being, while again it barks incessantly like 

 a dog, and the resemblance is so natural as to provoke a rejoinder from its 

 canine prototype. Occasionally it utters sounds resembling the half-chok- 

 ing cries of a person nearly strangled, and, attracted by the watchfire of a 

 camp, fly over it, shrieking a cry resembling luaugh-hou. It is not surprising 

 that with all these combinations and variations of unearthly cries these birds 

 should have been held in awe by the aborigines, their cries being sufficiently 

 fearful to startle even the least timid. 



It is one of the most destructive of the depredators upon the poultry- 

 yard, far surpassing in this respect any of our Hawks. All its mischief 

 is done at night, when it is almost impossible to detect and punish it. 

 Whole plantations are often thus stripped in a single season. 



The mating of this bird appears to have little or no reference to the sea- 

 son. A pair has been known to select a site for their nest, and begin to con- 

 struct a new one, or seize upon that of a Eed-tailed Hawk, and repair it, in 

 September or October, keeping in its vicinity through the winter, and mak- 

 ing their presence known by their continued hooting. Mr. Jillson found a 

 female sitting on two eggs in February, in Hudson, Mass.; and Mr. William 

 Street, of Easthampton, in the spring of 1869, found one of their nests on 

 the 3d of March, the eggs in which had been incubated at least a week. If 

 one nest is broken up, the pair immediately seek another, and make a 

 renewed attempt to raise a brood. They rarely go more than a mile from 

 their usual abode, and then only for food. Mr. Street's observations have 

 led him to conclude that they mate about February 20, and deposit their 

 eggs from the 25th to the 28th. They cease to hoot in the vicinity of their 

 nest from the time of their mating until their young have left them in 

 June. On the 19th of March, 1872, Mr. Street found two of their eggs 

 containing young nearly ready to hatch. 



Mr. Street's observations satisfied him that the period of incubation of 

 this Owl is about three weeks. When they have young and are hard 

 pressed for food, they hunt by day as well as by night, and at this time 

 they hoot a good deal. The young are ready to leave their nest about six 

 weeks after hatching. At this time their feathers are nearly all grown, ex- 

 cept their head-feathers, which have hardly started. In the spring of 1872 

 Mr. Street found a young bird that had fallen from its nest. Though very 

 small it was untamable, and not to be softened by any attentions. Its 

 savage disposition seemed to increase with age. It readily devoured all 



