GREATI HORNED OWL. 

 Bubo virginianus. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length (female) 21 to 24 inches; extent about 5 feet; tail about 

 9 inches; male 19 to 23 long; extent about 50 to 53 inches; can 

 be distinguished by its large size and long ear tufts; plumage 

 blackish, brownish, dusky, graying and whitish in mixture; 

 throat and middle of breast white; eyes yellow; bill and claws 

 blaclush. 



Habitat.-^KaKiein Nnrth Amerii-a. west to the Mississippi 

 valley, and from Labrador to Costa Rica. Resident in Penn- 

 sylvania. 



'I'his «(>ll Iviiow 11 and lallicr comiinni inhabitant of 

 the foi-csls rail ciisil.v be n'cc-iii/.rd by ils bniic si/.r, 

 llu' fonspifuoiis wiiilr b'aduMS .if the Hiioal and Ihc 

 long-oai' (uft.s wliicli iiicasiin' Iwn ;iiid our half iiiclics 

 or more in ItMigi li. 



THE NEST AND EGGS. 



The Great lloined, the hirgest of all our native owls, 

 is the first to eoiuinence nesting. I have found ils 

 eggs in Februaiy, and am told that it occasionally 

 1,-iys ill .laimaiy. in this localily the Great Horned 

 Owl .seldom breeds in hollow trees; soiueliiiies 

 it constructs a rude and bulky nest of sticks, 

 lined with grasses and feathers, on the large horizontal 

 limbs of trees in its f:ivorite wooded retreats. Its eggs, 

 measmiiig iiboiit I wo and one-fourth inches in length 

 li.\ I wo inches in width are mostly deposited in the de- 

 serted uests of hawks and crc'ws. Altliough it is 

 stated by di'Iferent writers that this species lays four 

 or more eggs, T have m>V(M' ftmnd. in seven nests exam- 

 ined, over Iwii I'gus or :i like iimnber of young. Mv. 

 Thomas H. .T.ickson. of Wrsl Chester, Pa., writing in 

 the Ornilholo.oisI .uu] Oolc-isl. .Tune. b^St;, savs: In 



