GREAT HORNED OWL 189 



of the path, some ten rods west of the old Stratton cel- 

 lar in the woods. This is the largest pine thereabouts, 

 and the nest is some thirty-five feet high on two limbs 

 close to the main stem, and, according to Skinner, was 

 not much more than a foot across, made of small sticks, 

 nearly flat, " without fine stuff ! " There were but two 

 young. This is a path which somebody travels every 

 half-day, at least, and only a stone's throw from the 

 great road. There were many white droppings about 

 and large rejected pellets containing the vertebrae and 

 hair of a skunk. As I stood there, I heard the crows 

 making a great noise some thirty or forty rods off, and 

 immediately suspected that they were pestering one of 

 the old owls, which Skinner had not seen. It proved so, 

 for, as I approached, the owl sailed away from amidst 

 a white pine top, with the crows in full pursuit, and he 

 looked very large, stately, and heavy, like a seventy-four 

 among schooners. I soon knew by the loud cawing of the 

 crows that he had alighted again some forty rods off, and 

 there again I found him perched high on a white pine, 

 the large tawny fellow with black dashes and large erect 

 horns. Away he goes again, and the crows after him. 



June 18, 1858. A boy climbs to the cat owl's nest 

 and casts down what is left of it, — a few short sticks 

 and some earthy almost turfy foundation, as if it were 

 the accumulation of years. Beside much black and white 

 skunk-hair, there are many fishes' scales (!) intimately 

 mixed with its substance, and some skunk's bones. 



Jan. 30, 1859. How peculiar the hooting of an owl! 

 It is not shrill and sharp like the scream of a hawk, but 

 full, round, and sonorous, waking the echoes of the wood. 



