Horned and Hoot Owls 



does more damage than all other species put together. Although 

 actually shorter than the great gray and snowy owls, his ponder- 

 ous body gives him more impressive size and power, earned 

 through constant exercise of savage instincts. No one ever finds 

 this hunter in poor condition ; diligent and overpowering in the 

 chase, he feasts where others starve, bringing down upon the 

 innocent heads of several members of his tribe the punishment 

 of sins of his commission by undiscriminating farmers. Only the 

 sharp-shinned, the Cooper's hawk, and the goshawk among the 

 birds of prey can show a bloodier record. 



By day this "tiger among birds" keeps concealed in the 

 woods, particularly among evergreens near water, in cloudy 

 weather sometimes sallying forth for food, but generally not 

 until dusk; then, with uncanny silence and hawklike swiftness 

 of flight, he begins his nefarious work. Chickens, ducks, geese, 

 turkeys, and pigeons on the farm will be decapitated if too large 

 to eat entire, for the brains of victims are the tid-bits this 

 executioner delights in. Dr. Hart Merriam tells of one of these 

 owls that took the heads off three turkeys and several chickens 

 in a single night, leaving their bodies uninjured and fit for the 

 table. Coops and dove cots are boldly entered; entire coveys 

 of Bob Whites destroyed; grouse, woodcock, water-fowl, and 

 snipe know no more relentless enemy; song birds do not escape 

 the stealthy murderer that picks them from the perch as they 

 sleep; and all the rats, mice, squirrels, rabbits, and other mam- 

 mals eaten cannot offset the valuable birds destroyed. 



A piercing scream as of a woman being strangled, the most 

 blood-curdling sound heard in the woods, a rare but all too 

 frequent sound, is a fitting vocal expression of a character so 

 unholy. 



"Silence, ye wolves ! while Ralph to Cynthia howls 

 And makes night hideous ; answer him, ye owls." 



A deep-toned to-whoo-hoo-hoo, to-whoo-whoo, as of a hound 

 baying in the distance, louder than the barred owl's hoot, and 

 the syllables all on one note, is the sound so familiar as to scarcely 

 need description. Like all owls, this one seems particularly at- 

 tracted by the camp-fire, and every sportsman knows how 

 dismally it punctuates the silence of the woods. 



Unsocial, solitary, except at the nesting season, unapproach- 

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