340 



LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



\\ho-who-who, who-who-who-who-who, who-ah.' Then another would answer 

 in the same note, and perhaps several others in turn. After this note had been 

 t, r iven by several birds in succession, another would utter a call like 'ah-ah-ah- 

 who-ah,' or perhaps 'who-ah, whack-whack-whack, who-oo-ah,' which would 

 hardly be begun before others would join in successively, some uttering the 

 first notes and some the second, until it would seem as if every tree in the 

 neighborhood held one of these Owls. After a few seconds' continuance at its 

 greatest height, this racket would gradually die away until there was almost a 

 perfect silence again, which would last for a few minutes, and then the Owls 

 would begin to call once more. I have never heard anything that could equal 

 one of these Owl concerts of former days, and never expect to again. It was 

 not the degree of noise that made them peculiar, for I have heard as much or 

 more in the breeding places of water birds, but a wierdness that is indescrib- 

 able. It was not a common occurrence, however, to hear so many of these 

 birds calling together, but only at times during the mating season, and in 

 isolated places. They are particularly active and call more on bright moon- 

 lisrht nisrhts than in dark ones. It also seems as if all the effffs of these birds 



O O OO 



whose nests I have found were laid during the moonlight nights of January 

 and February. 



"This Owl is the noisiest of any with which I am familiar, much more so 

 than its northern relative, and is oftenest heard during the mating season, 

 rarely while incubating, and not very often during the remainder of the year. 

 Formerly these birds were very tame, and during my first visits to this locality, 

 some years ago, I have known them to utter their calls from the roof of the 

 house in which I lived as unconcernedly as they do now in the most isolated 

 swamps. They seem to be more sociable than the northern bird, but this may 

 be only because they are more common. As with most birds of prey, they do 

 not nest near one another, although they seem not to mind the proximity of 

 nests occupied by other birds. They are constant residents and become just as 

 much attached to their nesting places as do the Great Homed Owls. Like these 

 they are most active by night, but cover a much wider range than the latter, 

 often leaving the woods and hunting in open fields, and formerly among the 

 houses of small settlements. From their habit of living and breeding in swamps 

 they are called by the natives 'Swamp Owls.' 



"They nearly always nest in cavities in trunks or large limbs of trees, and 

 this, with their retiring habits, makes it rather difficult to find their nesting sites 

 before the eggs are hatched. The cavities they choose for nesting sites are 

 of all sizes and shapes. I have seen some so large that a person could easily 

 stand in one of them, others so small that the birds could with difficulty squeeze 

 through the openings, and again others so shallow that the tail of the .sitting 

 bird could be seen projecting from them. I have never known these birds to 

 take any material to the cavities in which they nest, there being always more 

 or less trash in. these places, and this, with the feathers from the birds them- 

 selves, often makes a soft, thick, and usually a very filthy bed for the eggs to 



