374 
Buso VIRGINIANUS—Gmelin—THE GREAT HORNED OWL. 
Wilson’s Am. Orn., VL, pl. 50, fig. 1. Audubon’s B. of Am., Oct. ed., 
Ist pl., 39. 
The Great Horned Owl is a very common species in Ohio, and occurs 
during the whole year. It is the largest of the family, with the exception 
of one—the Great Cinereous Owl, that inhabits North America—and in 
courage it equals some of the eagles. When wounded, it will fight to the 
last, and the grip of its strong and sharp talons will produce a respect 
towards the bird, in the unlucky wight who ventures within its reach. Its 
food consists of small quadrupeds, such as rabbits, rats, squirrels, &c., and 
also such birds as it can capture. The farmer’s chickens are sometimes 
visited, and if these visits are not put an end to, few will be left. The 
favorite haunts of this bird are the deep swamps and woods, and its nest is 
built in the fork of some tall tree. It flies during the twilight and in 
moonlight, or during a clear night, and its cry is one of the dreariest and 
appalling known. 
The upper parts of the plumage are dark brown, finely mottled with 
ashy white and yellowish-brown; breast and abdomen white and fulvous, 
with each feather distinctly barred with brownish-black, the bars being 
more numerous towards the tip. The throat and chin are white; in some 
specimens the former is uniform with the breast—this is the case with one 
in the Cleveland Museum; this white band seems to vary in size in differ- 
ent birds. Between the chin and throat there is a band of fulvous, every 
feather having a broad, longitudinal stripe of dark brown down the center. 
Ear-tufts, brownish-black, edged with fulvous; facial disc dark fulvous, 
edged with black; a line of black extending from the inner angle of the 
eye towards the ear-tufts; tarsi and toes, fulvous; the upper parts of wings 
and tail mottled, like the back, but with broad grayish bands on the quills 
of the former, and narrower ones on those of the latter. The outer quills 
of the tail are also lighter colored than the rest. Bill and claws bluish- 
black. 
The usual leneth of the female is about 24 inches; the male about three 
inches less. 
The specimen from which the above description is taken, was shot at 
Hinckley, Medina county. There are also several specimens in the Muse- 
um of the Cleveland Academy of Natural Science. 
