GREAT HORNED OWL. 63 



tumal bird. According to Frisch, who kept one of these birds 

 alive, its cries varied according to circumstances ; when hungry 

 it had a muUng cry like Pithu. I have remarked the young, 

 probably, of our species utter the same low, quailing cry, while 

 yet daylight, as it sat on the low branch of a tree ; the sound 

 of both is, at times, also not unlike that made by the Hawks or 

 diurnal birds of prey. Indeed, in gloomy weather I have seen 

 our species on the alert, flying about many hours before dark, 

 and uttering his call of 'ko ko, ko kb ho. Their usual prey is 

 young rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice. Quails, and small birds of 

 various kinds ; and when these resources fail or diminish, they 

 occasionally prowl pretty boldly around the farm-yard in quest 

 of Chickens, which they seize on the roost. Indeed the Euro- 

 pean Horned Owl frequently contends with the Buzzard for its 

 prey, and generally comes off conqueror ; blind and infuriate 

 with hunger, one of these has been known to dart even upon 

 a man, as if for conflict, and was killed in the encounter. My 

 friend Dr. Boykin, of Milledgeville, in Georgia, assured me that 

 one of our own daring nocturnal adventurers, prowling round 

 his premises, saw a cat dozing on the roof of a smoke-house, 

 and supposing grimalkin a more harmless, rabbit-like animal 

 than appeared in the sequel, blindly snatched her up in his 

 talons ; but finding he had caught a Tartar, it was not long be- 

 fore he allowed puss once more to tread the ground. In 

 England the same error was committed by an Eagle, who, 

 after a severe conflict with a cat he had carried into the air, 

 was at length brought to the ground before he could disengage 

 himself from the feline grasp. 



An Owl of this species, which I have observed in a cage, 

 appeared very brisk late in the morning, hissed and blew when 

 approached with a stick, and dashed at it very heedlessly with 

 his bill ; he now and then uttered a ^ko-koh, and was pretty 

 loud in his call at an earlier hour. When approached, he cir- 

 cularly contracted the iris of the eyes to obtain a clearer view 

 of the threatened object ; he also listened with great quickness 

 to any sound which occurred near his prison, and eyed the 

 flying Pigeons, which passed by at some distance, with a scruti- 



