THE GREAT HORNED OWL 215 



showing a conspicuous white throat patch ; the rest of the under parts 

 barred with ochraceous buff and black. Feet buffy with some dusky 

 barring. Eyes yellow. Sexes alike. Downy young, white. 



Measurements. Length, 21 to 24 inches; wing, 15 to 16 inches; 

 tail, 8.25 to 9 inches. 



Range. In the United States from the British possessions to the 

 Gulf, and westward as far as eastern Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri 

 and Texas. 



The Great Horned Owl, Big Hoot Owl, or Cat Owl, as it is vari- 

 ously called, is a common resident throughout Iowa. Its size, con- 

 spicuous ear tufts and large yellow eyes, serve as a sufficient means 

 of identification. While the lighter colored varieties of this species 

 are often difficult to distinguish, the points given above will serve 

 most purposes. 



It is found usually in well timbered regions and frequenting the 

 older groves and bottom lands of our Iowa rivers, but occasionally 

 may be found in more open districts, and the writer once followed 

 and finally secured one that was flying from one willow hedge to an- 

 other across the open fields in broad daylight. 



Its keen eyesight, acute hearing and the power of its talons, com- 

 bined with almost noiseless flight and the fact that it has the instincts 

 of the marauder, makes this species one of the most destructive of 

 all our birds of prey. 



Its cry resembles whoo who, who, who, who-whoo whoo, hav- 

 ing about the same pitch, but differing in the spacing of the call from 

 that of the Barred Owl. In the breeding season the "hooting** may be 

 heard in the timber where the birds are nesting, though sometimes it 

 is so low that one can not hear the call from any great distance. The 

 writer has brought them within gunshot by imitating their cry, while 

 he was carefully concealed. Only once has the writer heard the 

 scream as described by F. M. Chapman in his Birds of Eastern North 

 America. He says, "A much rarer call is a loud, piercing scream, 

 one of the most blood-curdling sounds I have ever heard in the 

 woods." While following a Great Horned Owl in Wildcat Grove, 

 Linn county, on a somewhat foggy morning when the woods were 

 damp and quiet, this startling scream was given by a bird a short dis- 

 tance away. It came so unexpectedly that for a moment the writer 

 could hardly credit the Owl with such a volume of hair-raising sound. 



These Owls are frequently mobbed by Crows and Jays who gather 

 in large numbers, but usually keep at a respectful distance until the 



