72 



VERTEP.RATA. 



THE EAGLE OWL. 



mark of affection repeated. The game which the old ones carried to it consisted chiefly of young 

 partridges newly killed, but sometimes a little spoiled. On one occasion a moor-fowl was brought 

 so fresh that it was actually warm under the wings, and at another time a putrid lamb was 

 deposited." 



The Great Horned Owl, or Cat-Owl, B. Virginianus, (see engraving, page 64,) is two feet 

 long ; the horns three inches, consisting of thirteen or fourteen feathers ; the eyes golden yellow ; 

 upper parts dusky, finely penciled on a tawny and whitish ground ; beneath, elegantly marked 

 with transverse bands of brown on a bright tawny ground, mixed with white. It is found in 

 almost every part of the United States, but is becoming scarce in thickly-settled regions. "His 

 favorite residence,'" says Wilson, "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 amid the deep forests of Indiana, alone and re- 

 posing in the woods, this ghostly watchman h^s frequently warned me of the approach of morn- 

 ing, and amused me with his singular exclamations, sometimes sweeping down and around my 

 fire, uttering a loud and sudden Waugh 0! Waugh ! sufficient to have alarmed a whole gar- 

 rison. He has other nocturnal solos, no less melodious, one of which very strikingly resembles 

 the half-suppressed screams of a person suff"ocating or throttled, and cannot fail of being exceed- 

 ingly entertaining to a lonely, benighted traveler, in the midst of an Indian wilderness! 



" This species inhabits the country round Hudson's Bay, and extends even to the arctic regions, 

 where it is often found white. It has also been seen white in the United States ; but this has 

 doubtless been owing to disease or natural defect, and not to climate. It preys on young rabbits, 

 squirrels, rats, mice, partridges, and small birds of various kinds. It has been often known to 

 prowl about the farm-house, and carry off chickens from roost. A very large one, wing-broken 



