244 BARRED OWL. 



considerable distance, after which its zohali-wJiali-rdiah is uttered with 

 considerable pomposity. This owl will answer the imitation of its own 

 sounds, and is frequently decoyed by this means. 



The flight of the Bai'red Ov/i is smooth, light, noiseless, and ca- 

 pable of being greatly protracted. I have seen them take their departure 

 from a detached grove in a prairie, and pursue a direct course towards 

 the skirts of the main forest, distant more than two miles, in broad day- 

 light. I have thus followed them with the eye until they were lost in 

 the distance, and have reason to suppose that they continued their flight 

 until they reached the woods. Once, whilst descending the Ohio, not 

 far from the well-known Cave-in-rock, about two hours before sunset, in 

 the month of November, I saw a Barred Owl teased by several crows, and 

 chased from the tree in which it was. On leaving the tree, it gradually 

 rose in the air, in the manner of a Hawk, and at length attained so great 

 a height that our party lost sight of it. It acted, I thought, as if it 

 had lost itself, now and then describing small circles, and flapping its 

 wings quickly, then flying in zigzag lines. This being so uncommon an 

 occurrence, I noted it down at the time. I felt anxious to see the bird 

 return towards the earth, but it did not make its appearance again. So 

 very lightly do they fly, that I have frequently discovered one passing 

 over me, and only a few yards distant, by first seeing its shadow on 

 the ground, during clear moon-light nights, when not the faintest rustling 

 of its wings could be heard. 



Their power of sight during the day seems to be rather of an equi- 

 vocal character, as I once saw one alight on the back of a cow, which it 

 left so suddenly afterwards, when the cow moved, as to prove to me that 

 it had mistaken the object on which it had perched for something else. 

 At other times, I have observed that the approach of the grey squirrel 

 intimidated them, if one of these animals accidentally jumped on a branch 

 close to them, although the Owl destroys a number of them during the 

 twilight. It is for this reason, kind reader, that I have represented the 

 Barred Owl gazing in amazement at one of the squirrels placed only a 

 few inches from him. 



The Barred Owl is a great destroyer of poultry, particularly of 

 chickens when half-grown. It also secures mice, young hares, rabbits, 

 and many species of small birds, but is especially fond of a kind of frog 

 of a brown colour, very common in the woods of Louisiana. I have 

 heard it asserted that this bird catches fish, but never having seen it do 



