ACCIPITRES. 255 



night, its silent ghost-like flight, the lonely gloomy 

 spots which it loves to haunt, characters which are 

 common to the whole genus, have, perhaps, in some 

 measure, induced the popular abhorrence which has 

 fallen to its lot. It is the province of the Naturalist, 

 however, to combat absurd prejudice, and to allot to 

 every creature, as far as possible, its true character. 

 The voices of the larger species are, it must be con- 

 fessed, anything but agreeable : Wilson, with his 

 usual felicity, has given a description of the nightly 

 serenade of the great Eagle Owl of the United States, 

 (S. Firginiana,) to the truth of which the writer of 

 the present work can witness, having often heard it 

 in the lone forests of West Florida. " His favorite 

 residence is in the dark solitudes of deep swamps, 

 covered with a growth of gigantic timber ; and here, 

 as soon as evening draws on, and mankind retire to 

 rest, he sends forth such sounds as seem scarcely 

 to belong to this world, startling the solitary pilgrim 

 as he slumbers by his forest fire, 



' Making night hideous.' 



" Along the mountainous shores of the Ohio, and 

 amidst the deep forests of Indiana, alone, and repos- 

 ing in the woods, this ghostly watchman has fre- 

 quently warned me of the approach of morning, 

 and amused me with his singular exclamations, some- 

 times sweeping down and around my fire, uttering 

 a loud and sudden Waugh ! Waugh O ! sufficient 

 to have alarmed a whole garrison. He has other 

 nocturnal solos, no less melodious; one of which 



