THE GEEAT OWL. 577 



when rearing its young, which are very voracious, it devours 

 toads, frogs, and small reptiles. 



The Great Owl is very courageous, and often has battles with 

 the Tawny Eagle, from which it frequently comes off with honour.. 



Fig. 274. Great Owl (Strix bubo, Linn.). 



The fight is sometimes so severe that it terminates in the death 

 of both combatants. 



M. Bailly relates that he was told, by reliable witnesses,, that an 

 Eagle and Great Owl, which were fighting together in the moun- 

 tains of Savoy, drove their claws so deep into one another's 

 flesh that they could not withdraw them, so both died from their 

 wounds on the scene of action. In a similar fight near Zurich 

 a Great Owl, which was the conqueror, was so fastened to its 

 adversary that they fell to the ground together, and, being unable 

 to disengage its talons, was in consequence taken alive. 



p P 



