296 WILD WINGS 



quite dove-like, " oo-o-o-o," with no aspirate quality. 

 Still another was the guttural, laughter-like cry, " waugh- 

 whoo-o," more like the sounds uttered by the Barred Owl 

 than any of the other notes. Comparing the cries of these 

 allied species, aside from the hooting of the Barred Owl 

 being more prolonged, the tones of the latter are sharp and 

 metallic, startling in their resonant qualities, while those of 

 the Great Horned Owl are rich, deep, and mellow, sounding 

 much softer close at hand than those of the other, yet audible 

 at a great distance. 



A w r eek later I conducted to this nest another friend who, 

 aided with climbing-irons, managed to ascend the tree. Two 

 downy young occupied the nest, and they were in no imme- 

 diate danger of starvation, for three rabbits and a mouse, 

 partly eaten, remained piled up on the edge of the nest for 

 their support. This time it was cloudy, and the old owl de- 

 parted while we were yet some distance off, and did not 

 again show herself. A month later the young could be seen 

 roosting out on the branches near the nest. A miscreant, 

 who noted my visits to this spot, shot the owlets, and had the 

 audacity to try to sell them to me to mount ! 



The Great Horned Owl is found in scattered pairs in this 

 region, but the Barred Owl is rather more common. In west- 

 ern New England, however, this order is reversed. Here, as 

 in Plymouth County, the Great Horned Owl is apt to use the 

 abandoned nests of the Red-tailed Hawk, which, in this case, 

 are almost invariably in chestnuts or oaks, while there they 

 are as regularly in pines. In western New England the owl 

 also nests in the hemlock tracts on the mountains, probably 

 using any old nest of squirrel or crow. 



The owls are all early breeders, and the Barred Owl comes 

 in as a close second to the Great Horned. Though these two 

 species are often confounded under the common title of 



