40 TBE GREAT HORNED OWL 



deep forests of Indiana, alone, and reposing in the woo<ii^ 

 this ghostly watchman has frequently warned the traveller o^ 

 the approach of morning, and amused him with his singulai 

 exclamations, sometimes sweeping down and around the fire, 

 uttering a loud and sudden Wauffh ! Waugh 1 sufficient 

 to have alarmed a whole garrison. He has other nocturnal 

 solos, no less melodious, one of w'nich very strikingly reseni' 

 bles the half-^suppressed screams of a person suffocating, or 

 throttled, and cannot fail of being exceedingly entertaining 

 to a lonely, benighted traveller, in the midst of an Indian 

 wilderness ! 



This species inhabits the country round Hudson's Bay , 

 and according to Pennant, who considers it a mere variety 

 of the Eagle Owl (^Strix huho) of Europe, is found in Kamt- 

 Bchatka; extends even to the arctic regions, where it is 

 often found white ; and occurs as low as Astrakan. It haa 

 also been seen white in the United States; but this has 

 doubtless been owing to disease or natural defect, and not 

 to climate. 



It preys on young rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, partridges, 

 and small birds of various kinds. 



ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 



The Great Horned Owl is famous for his depredations on 

 the poultry yard. A very large one, who had his wing 

 broken by a shot while on a foraging expedition of thii> 



