OWL. 325 



OWLS. 

 (Family Strigidse.) 



Nocturnal birds of prey. These are the cats of the bird 

 tribe. Their whole structure is arranged for preying at 

 night, ears to hear the cricket and mouse chirp, or bug un- 

 der the leaf; eyes to see their minutest prey in the darkness; 

 and soft downy feathers to glide like spectres in silence. 

 There are but few species on the mountain. 



SCOPS Asio, (Linn.) Red owl. This is the little screech- 

 owl found, according to Nuttall, from Greenland to Florida. 

 It is friendly and familiar, approaching houses and sitting 

 on apple-trees and bushes almost in contact with the dwell- 

 ing. He preys only at night, feeding on mice and small 

 birds, even beetles and moths. " Color, brown, ash, and 

 rusty-red, mixed with black ; length, ten to eleven inches." 

 Nuttall. 



BUBO Yirginianus, (Gm.) Great horned or cat owl. This 

 large night-bird, "king of the nocturnal tribe of American 

 birds, "is found on the mountain. His startling hoot, or strange 

 and melancholy boo-heo, is heard at night in almost every 

 wood of any extent, and being loud and sonorous, it is audible 

 at a great distance. He is found from Hudson's Bay to 

 Florida. Color, mixed, brownish and black ; he is twenty 

 inches long. Prey, young rabbits, birds, squirrels, mice, etc. 

 In a dark, silent night, nothing can be more ominous and 

 unearthly than the notes of this gloomy bird. Mr. Cassin 

 has described four varieties, showing quite a difference of 

 plumage in the species, which has given rise to much trouble 

 among ornithologists. 



OTUS Wilsonianus, (Lesson.) Long-eared owl. Nuttall 

 represents this bird as " almost a denizen of the world, being 

 found from Hudson's Bay to the West Indies, throughout 

 Europe, in Africa, Asia, and China." Color, "mottled 

 black and brown, ear-tufts long ; length, fourteen inches." 

 Nuttall. Barely seen on the mountain. Cassin says, " This 



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