The Great Horned Owl 4 i 



northward to Labrador, westward to the Great Plains and 

 southward through eastern Mexico to Costa Rica. My note- 

 book shows that I found them at Buzzard's Roost, January 18, 

 1903, and January 1, 1905. I was out there and the gardener 

 told me that one of them was hooting that morning near the 

 cottage and that it came into the yard quite frequently, as he 

 thought, to catch rats. The dense forest there makes a favorite 

 residence for them. Wilson in his American Ornithology 

 tells us that "along the mountainous shores of the Ohio, and 

 amidst the deep forest of Indiana, alone, and reposing in the 

 woods, this ghastly watchman frequently warned me of the 

 approach of morning, and amused me with his singular ex- 

 clamations ; sometimes sweeping down and around my fire, ut- 

 tering a loud and sudden Waugh O ! Waugh O ! sufficient to 

 have alarmed a whole garrison." 



They are early breeders. Mating begins about the middle 

 of January and continues throughout the month. Throughout 

 the greater part of their range the laying of eggs begins in 

 February and occasionally in the latter part of January. A fav- 

 orite place for their nest is in the hollow of a tree. At Buzzard's 

 Roost a pair of them have such a nest near the cabins. Very 

 frequently, however, they repair and use the abandoned nests 

 of crows and hawks. As a rule they lay two or three eggs 

 sometimes as many as five. The eggs about the size of a hen's 

 egg, are white in color and round in shape. Incubation is at- 

 tended to by the female and lasts from twenty-one to twenty- 

 eight days. It is said that they regard each other with a devo- 

 tion that is rarely met with among favored creatures and that 

 they will willingly risk not only their liberty but their lives for 

 their young. 



"Nor lovely the bird, nor his ghastly mate; 



They are each unto each a pride, 

 Thrice fonder, perhaps, since a strange, dark fate 



Hath rent them from all beside." 



These owls have several call notes. Some of which are 

 very harsh to the ear. One of these is a cat-like squall or 

 cry ; another is a series of yelps, similar to the barking of a 

 dog. The common call, however, is a far-reaching "to-hoot, 

 to-hoot, to-hoot, to-hoo-ah." 



