36 NORTH AMEltlCAN BIRDS. 



olso ; and Dr. Woodliouse speaks of it as very coininon in tlie Indian Tcni- 

 tories, and also in Texas and New Mexico, especially in the timbereil lands 

 bordering the streams and jjonds of that region. In July, 184(), while in 

 pursuit of shore birds in the island of ^luskeget, near Nantucket, in the 

 middle of a bright day, I was surprised by meeting one of these Ijirds, 

 which, uninvited, joined us in the hunt, and when shot proved to be a line 

 male adult specimen. 



The Barred Owl was found in great abundance in Florida by ^Ir. J. A. 

 Allen, the only species of Owl at all common, and where its ludicrous notes 

 were heard at night everywhere, and even occasionally in the daytime. At 

 night they not unfrequently startle the traveller by their strange utterances 

 from the trees directly over his head. 



Mv. Dresser speaks of it as very abundant at all seasons of the year in 

 the wooded parts of Texas. He was not able to find its nest, but was told 

 by the huntera that they build in hollow trees, near the banks of the 

 rivers. 



According to IMr. Downes, this Owl is common throughout Nova Scotia, 

 where it is resident, and never leaves its particular neighborhood. It breeds 

 in the woods throughout all parts of that colony, and was observed by him 

 to feed on hares, spruce and ruffed grouse, and other birds. It is said to 

 be a quite common event for this bird to make its appearance at midnight 

 about the camp-fires of the moose-hunter and the lumberer, and to disturb 

 their slumbers with its cries, as with a demoniacal expression it jieers into 

 the glare of the embers. Distending its throat and pushing its hea<l for- 

 ward, it gives utterance to unearthly sounds that to the supei-stitious are 

 quite appalling. 



Mr. Wilson regarded this species as one of the most common of the Owls 

 in the lower jmrts of PeniLsylvania, where it was particularly numerous in 

 winter, among the wootls that border the extensive meadoM's of the Schuyl- 

 kill and the Delaware Eiver. He frequently observed it flying during the 

 day, when it seemed to be able to see quite distinctly. He met with more 

 than forty of these birds in one spring, either flying or sitting exposed in 

 the daytime, and once discovered one of its nests situated in the crotch 

 of a white oak, among thick foliage, and containing three young. It 

 was rudely put together, made outwardly of sticks, intermixed with dry 

 Trasses and leaves, and lined with smaller twigs. He adds that this Owl 

 screams in the day in the manner of a Hawk. Nuttall characterizes th, ir 

 peculiar hooting as a loud guttural call, which he expresses by 'koh-'JiOh-'ku- 

 'ko-'ho, or as 'icJuih-'whah-'ivhah-vhah-aa, heard occasionally both by day and 

 by night. It is a note of recognition, and may be easily imitated, and can be 

 ired as a means to decoy the birds. Nuttall received a specimen that had 

 been shot in November, hovering, in the daytime, over a covey of Quail. 



Mr. Audubon speaks of the jyeculiar hooting cries of this sjHJcies as 

 strangely ludicrous in sound, and as suggestive of an allected burst of 



