182 FROM BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



The barred and snowy owls, while quite differ- 

 ent from the brown owls, are somewhat alike 

 in temper. They show fight when approached, 

 and are very alert. The barred owls make sev- 

 eral different sounds expressive of various emo- 

 tions. They snap their beaks furiously when 

 warning an enemy ; they whine when hungry ; 

 they make a soft, rather musical " oo " when 

 meeting after an absence ; they chatter with rage 

 when pulling in opposite directions on the same 

 bird or mouse ; and they hoot when expressing 

 the sentiments which make the domestic cock 

 crow. While young they make a queer chuck- 

 ling chatter when cuddled, and as the sound 

 grows faint it suggests the music of a brood of 

 chickens nestling under their mother's feathers. 

 The hooting varies. In the August twilight I 

 often hear the loud trumpeting " hoo " uttered 

 at intervals of half a minute or more by wild 

 owls in the woods. The common hoot, which 

 suggests to some ears feline music, is generally 

 " hoo-hoo hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo hoo-hoo, " but I heard 

 a barred owl this winter in a remote White 

 Mountain valley say " hoo-oo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, 

 hoo, hoo-oo. " He was a conversational and in- 

 quisitive bird. By hiding in some evergreens 

 and hooting to him I drew him little by little to 

 the treetop just above me. 



Wholly different is the conversation of the 



