296 
WILD WINGS 
quite dove-like, — “ 00-0-0-0,” — with no aspirate quality. 
Still another was the guttural, laughter-like cry, — “ waugh- 
whoo-o,” — more like the sounds uttered by the Barred Owl 
than any of the other notes. Comparing the cries of these 
allied species, aside from the hooting of the Barred Owl 
being more prolonged, the tones of the latter are sharp and 
metallic, startling in their resonant qualities, while those of 
the Great Horned Owl are rich, deep, and mellow, sounding 
much softer close at hand than those of the other, yet audible 
at a great distance. 
A week later I conducted to this nest another friend who, 
aided with climbing-irons, managed to ascend the tree. Two 
downy young occupied the nest, and they were in no imme¬ 
diate danger of starvation, for three rabbits and a mouse, 
{partly eaten, remained piled up on the edge of the nest for 
their support. This time it was cloudy, and the old owl de¬ 
parted while we were yet some distance off, and did not 
again show herself. A month later the young could be seen 
roosting out on the branches near the nest. A miscreant, 
who noted mv visits to this spot, shot the owlets, and had the 
audacitv to try to sell them to me to mount! 
The Great Horned Owl is found in scattered pairs in this 
region, but the Barred Owl is rather more common. In west¬ 
ern New England, however, this order is reversed. Here, as 
in Plymouth County, the Great Horned Owl is apt to use the 
abandoned nests of the Red-tailed Hawk, which, in this case, 
are almost invariably in chestnuts or oaks, while there they 
are as regularly in pines. In western New England the owl 
also nests in the hemlock tracts on the mountains, probably 
using any old nest of scjuirrel or crow. 
The owls are all early breeders, and the Barred Owl comes 
in as a close second to the Great Horned. Though these two 
species are often confounded under the common title of 
