THE GREAT HORNED OWL. 63 
often put in a dead mouse, with a string attached to it, 
by which I dragged it across the cage: an owl instantly 
seized it, as if it were alive, and ate it. A living bat ( Ves- 
pertilio Carolinensis), on being introduced, was instantly 
seized, but, after being killed, was rejected. The strong 
musky scent peculiar to these animals may have been the 
reason for the owl’s not eating it: if not, I cannot account 
for it. 
In eating its prey, the Owl stands on it with both feet, and 
tears it with its bill: if the piece torn off is large, the head 
is thrown back, and the repeated contraction of the muscles 
of the throat forces it down. In holding a mouse or other 
small object, all the talons of one foot are clenched in it, 
while the other foot is left free. On being approached, this 
Owl, as indeed do almost all the others, faces the intruder, 
and follows his motions by turning his head, at the same 
time snapping his bill. 
In drinking, the bill is immersed, and repeated swallows 
are taken, after the manner of the pigeons. 
The Great Horned Owl chooses for its breeding-places the 
most retired and inaccessible places in the deep forests ; and 
the student might search for weeks for its nest, and not find 
it unless by accident. It is usually built in a fork of a tall 
tree, but is sometimes made in a hollow of a tree or in the 
top of a stub or stump. Audubon found it twice in fissures 
of rocks. It is constructed of sticks and twigs, and is lined- 
with leaves, grasses, and moss. The eggs are usually three 
in number; sometimes four, rarely more: they are of a 
white color, with a very faint yellowish tint; their shape is 
nearly spherical, and they average in size 2.25 inches by 
2 inches. 
A nest that I found a few miles from Marietta, Ohio, 
about the middle of March, 1865, was built in a tall, hollow 
stub of a beech, which was cut down for the purpose of 
being examined. It was built of twigs and sticks, in num- 
bers sufficient to fill the cavity: in the middle of these were 
