247 



thirtccu nests of this bird thitt have come iimler my 

 personal notice, twelve contained two eggs, or young, 

 and only one contained throe eggs. All the nests re- 

 ferred to above were placed in branches of trees and 

 were generally those of hawks or crows, renovated or 

 enlarged. Occasionally «a hollow tree is used for the 

 purpose. Upon one occasion I replaced the owl's eggs 

 taken from a nest with those of the common hen, and 

 upon visiting them at the expiration of three weeks, 

 found that both the latter had been hatched and bad 

 fallen from the nest, about twenty feet ft-om the 

 ground, and that the owls had deserted the locality. 

 The Great florned Owls are liberal providers for their 

 young. I have frequently found full grown rabbits 

 lying in the nest beside the young, and scarcely a nest 

 visited did not have a strong odor of skunk, while 

 bones and feathers were scattered around attesting to 

 the predacious liabils of the jjropi-ietors."' 



ITS FLIGHT AND WIERD NOTES. 



"The flight of the Great Horned Owl is elevated 

 rapid and graceful. It sails with apparent ease and in 

 large circles, in the manner of an (Migle; rises and de- 

 scends without the least difficulty by merely inclining 

 its wings or its tail as it passes through the air. Now 

 and then it glides silently close over the earth with in- 

 comparable velocity, and drops, as if shot dead, on the 

 prey beneath. At otlier times, it suddenly alights on 

 the top of a fence stake or a dead stump, shakes its 

 feathers, arranges them, and ullers a shriek so horrid 

 that the woods around echo to its dismal sound. Now, 

 it seems as if you heard the barking of a cur dog; 

 again the notes are so rough and mingled together 

 that they might be mistaken for the last gurglings 

 of a murdered person striving in vain to call for as 



