102 HISTORY OF 



It sometimes happens, however, that the little birds pursue 

 their insults with the same imprudent zeal with which the owl 

 himself had pursued his depredations. They hunt him the 

 whole day until evening returns ; which restoring him his facul- 

 ties of sight once more, he makes the foremost of his pursuers 

 pay dear for their former sport. Nor is man always an imcon- 

 cerned spectator here. The birdcatchers have got an art of 

 counterfeiting the cry of the owl exactly ; and having before 

 limed the branches of a hedge, they sit unseen, and give the call. 

 At this, all the little birds flock to the place where they expect 

 to find their well-known enemy ; but instead of finding their 

 stupid antagonist they are stuck fast to the hedge themselves. 

 This sport must be put in practice an hour before night fall, in 

 order to be successful ; for if it is put off till later, those birds 

 which but a few minutes sooner came to provoke their enemy, 

 will then fly from him with as much terror as they just before 

 showed insolence. 



It is not unpleasant to see one stupid bird made, in some sort, 

 a decoy to deceive another. The great horned owl is sometimes 

 made use of for this purpose to lure the kite, when falconers de- 

 sire to catch him for the purposes of training the falcon. Upon 

 this occasion they clap the tail of a fox to the great owl, to ren 

 der his figure extraordinary ; in which trim he sails slowly along, 

 flying low, which is his usual manner. The kite, either curious 

 to observe this odd kind of animal, or perhaps inquisitive to see 

 whether it may not be proper for food, tiies after, and comes 

 nearer and nearer. In this manner he continues to hover, and 

 sometimes to descend, till the falconer setting a strong-winged 

 hawk against him, seizes him for the purpose of training bis 

 young ones at home. 



The usual place where the great horned owl breeds is in the 

 cavern of a rock, the hollow of a tree, or the turret of some 

 ruined castle. Its nest is near three feet in diameter, and com- 

 posed of sticks, bound together by the fibrous roots of trees, and 

 lined with leaves on the inside. It lays about three eggs, which 

 are larger than those of a hen, and of a colour somewhat resem- 

 bling the bird itself. The young ones are very voracious, and 

 the parents not less expert at satisfying the call of hunger. The 

 lesser owl of this kind never makes a nest for itself, but always 

 takes up with the old nest of some other bird, which it has often 



