481 
THE DUSKY HORNED OWL. 
General Range.—Northwest coast slope from Oregon north to Sitka, inter- 
grading irregularly with interior forms, and theoretically overflowing on eastern 
slopes of Cascades. 
Range in Washington.—Not common resident on Puget Sound, irregularly 
to or thru the Cascade Mountains. 
Authorities.—? Bubo virginianus var 2? Newberry, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. 
VL, pt. IV., 1857, p. 76. Bubo virginianus pacificus, Cassin, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. 
IR, Stra Ik, TARY joe Bio (AP Yo (CWS s ky Wein Ihe IB 1S 
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. B. BN. E. 
HORNED OWLS ina state of nature do not pose for inspection unless 
forcibly detained. A steel trap is, of course, the surest method of detention, 
but a mob of Steller Jays ranks a close second. Nothing can exceed the 
joy of the Jay upon the discovery of one of these grim death’s heads secreted 
in the depths of a fir tree. Here is a day’s sport cut out for one whose 
“sportin’ blood” runs high on week-days and turns feverish on owl days. 
The whole Jay countryside is aroused. To the number of a score they gather 
about the victim and throw all his sins up to him in a chorus of Billingsgate. 
The Owl beams hate at them, snaps his mandibles fiercely, and makes now 
and then an ineffectual dab at his pursuers, which only seems to arouse fresh 
shrieks of laughter. When the din becomes unbearable, he may dash from 
cover, but the Jays surround him at the next resting place, screaming sar- 
castic apologies for their past rudeness, and promising redoubled misbehavior. 
One wonders that they dare do it, for the sullen object of mirth will 
assuredly wreak vengeance on them when his turn comes in the first watch 
of the night. It is difficult to exaggerate the rapacity of these freebooters. 
An observer in New York State, speaking, of course, of the eastern form, 
“States that in a nest he examined, containing two young Owls, he found the 
following animals: ‘a mouse, a young muskrat, two eels, four bullheads, a 
Woodcock, four Ruffed Grouse, one rabbit and eleven rats. The food taken 
out of the nest weighed almost 18 pounds. A curious fact connected with 
these captives was that the heads were eaten off, the bodies being un- 
touched.’ Mr. Bowles finds that during the fall and winter months on the 
Nisqually Flats, these birds make a thoro search every night for wounded 
ducks. So successful are they that out of hundreds that are wounded and 
lost by sportsmen, it is very unusual to find one, while well-picked carcasses 
are common. 
Quite in keeping with the Horned Owl’s sinister aspect are his vocal 
performances at night. As a young man in Tacoma, the writer once lived 
on East 26th Street, immediately adjoining a large wooden church building. 
a. Bendire, Life Histories N. A. Birds, Vol. I., p. 382. 
