154 ZOOLOGY. 



Family ST RI GI D AE-— w 1 s. 

 Sub-family BUBONINAE.— H o r n e d Owls. 



BUBO VIRGINIANUS, Bonaparte. 



Great Horned Oivl. 



Slrixvirginiana, Gm. Syst. Nat. I, p. 287, (1788.) 

 S. magdlanims, Gm. Syst. Nat. I. p. 286, (1788 ?) 

 Buho virffinianus, Bonap. Comp. List, p. 6. 

 B. virginianus, (Gm.) Baird & Cassin, Gen. Eep. Birds, p. 9. 

 B. ardicus, Swain. F. B. Am. Birds, p. 86, (1831.) 

 B. subarcticus, Hot, Proc. Acad. Sc. Pliilad. VI, 212. 

 FiQDRES.— Wilsoa, Am, Ora. VII, pi. 50, fig. 1 ; Aud. B. of Am. pi. CI : oct. ed. I, pi. 39 ; Nat. Hist. New York, 

 pi. 10, fig. 22; Fauna Bor. Am. Birds, pi. 30. 



Sp. Ch. — Very large ; car tufts long, erectile ; color varying from nearly white to dark brown ; above darkest, and mottled 

 irregularly with transverse lines of pale ashy and reddish. Throat and neck ^vhUe, breast with dark stripes other parts 

 somewhat fulvous, mixed with brown and white. 

 Female: length, 21 to 25 ; wing, 14iJ to 16 ; tail, 10 inches. 

 Male: length, 18 to 20 ; wing, 14 to 15 ; tail, 9 inches. 



The largest horned or tufted owl in America, varying in size, though the smallest males are over eighteen inches long, 

 and their wing fourteen inches. Usually dark-colored, and (var. pacificus) with an ash-colored face, while others (var. atlan- 

 ticus) have it fulvous. The pale variety {ardicus) is sometimes nearly white, hut more commonly yellowish. All of these 

 forms are found in the Territory. 

 No. 9159 ( — ,) Okanagan R. , Sept. 27, 1853. Length, 27 ; extent, 52 inches, (var. pacijims.) 



The great horned owl is a common and constant resident in all parts of the Territor}' I have 

 visited, but principally among dark forests, where it sits dozing through the day, unless dis- 

 covered by some crow or other bird, when its chance for rest is gone, until the shades of night 

 disperse its persecutors, and give it an opportunity of taking ample revenge. — C. 



The great horned owl is very abundant about Puget Sound. I obtained fully half a dozen 

 skins, all resembling in character the description given by Cassin of the variety pacificus. The 

 aborigines near Fort Steilacoom, when they hear one of these birds uttering his deep, hooting 

 sounds near their lodges at night, are much alarmed. As usual, they consider that it is a 

 warning of the approach of death, or some other great calamity — thus showing another 

 instance of the almost universal, superstitious dread, which, in various parts of the woi'ld, is 

 inspired by birds of this family. 



In July, 1856, I obtained two individuals alive, which, although fed and kindly treated for 

 several months, abated not a whit their original ferocity. At the approach of any one — even 

 their habitual feeder — they instantly manifested vindictiveness, rage, hatred, and defiance, and 

 kept up a hissing noise, interrupted by loud snapping sounds, produced by "gnashing" their 

 bills. 



While in the Rocky mountains I found owls quite plentiful, and at night heai'd frequently 

 the hooting of individuals of some large species, which, although kept up at about the same 

 intervals as those produced b}' the present kind, were much more feeble. — S. 



