94 GREAT HORNED OWL. 



ochre, some of the latter have central spots of dark brown, the whole 

 tipped with white ; quills also banded with dark brown and yellow 

 ochre ; breast and belly streaked with dark brown, on a ground of yel- 

 lowish ; legs, thighs and vent, plain dull yellow ; tips of the three first 

 quill feathers black ; legs clothed to the claws, which are black, curved 

 to about the quarter of a circle, and exceedingly sharp. 



The female I have never seen ; but she is said to bo somewhat larger 

 and much darker ; and the spots on the breast larger and more 

 numerous. 



Species VIIL STRIX VIRGINIANA. 



GREAT HORNED OWL. 



[Plate L. Fig. 1.] 

 Arct. Zuol. p. 228, No. 114.— ED\y. 60.— Lath, i., 119.— Turt. S/s/. p. 166.* 



The figure of this bird, as well as of those represented in the same 

 plate, is reduced to one-half its natural dimensions. By the same scale, 

 the greater part of the Hawks and Owls of the present volumef are 

 drawn ; their real magnitude rendering this unavoidable. 



This noted and formidable Owl is found in almost every quarter of 

 the United States. His favorite residence, however, is in the dark 

 solitudes of deep swamps, covered with a growth of gigantic timber ; 

 and here, as soon as evening draws on, and mankind retire to rest, he 

 sends forth such sounds, as seem scarcely to belong to this world, start- 

 ling the solitary pilgrim as he slumbers by his forest fire, 



" Making night hideous." 



Along thB mountainous shores of the Ohio, and amidst the deep forests 

 of Indiana, alone, and reposing in the woods, this ghostly watchman 

 frequently wai'ned me of tlie approach of morning, and amused me with 

 his singular exclamations ; sometimes sweeping down and around my 

 fire, uttering a loud and sudden Waugh ! Waiigh ! sufiicient to 

 have alarmed a whole garrison. He has other nocturnal solos, no less 

 melodious, one of wliich very strikingly resembles the half-suppressed 

 screams of a person suffocating, or throttled, and cannot fail of being 



* We add the following synonymes : Hibou des Terres Magellaniquea, Buff. PI. 

 Eul. 3S5. — Bubo Virijinianns, Briss. i., p. 4S4. — Strix Virgimana, Ind. Orn. p. 52. — 

 Omel. ffijst. I., p. 2S7. — Virginian Eared Owl, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supl.vi., p. 40. 



t Volume VL of the original edition. 



