316 GREAT HORNED OWL. 



juncture both might be said to be dancing mad, httle dreaming, Hke most 

 owls on such occasions, of the possibility of their being one day horn- 

 mad. 



The nest, which is very bulky, is usually fixed on a large horizontal 

 branch, not far from the trunk of the tree. It is composed externally of 

 crooked sticks, and is lined with coarse grasses and some feathers. The 

 whole measures nearly three feet in diameter. The eggs, which are from 

 three to six, are almost globular in form, and of a duU white colour. 

 The male assists the female in sitting on the eggs. Only one brood is 

 raised in the season. The young remain in the nest until fully fledged, 

 and afterwards follow the parents for a considerable time, uttering a 

 mournful sound, to induce them to supply them with food. They ac- 

 quire the full plumage of the old birds in the first spring, and until then 

 are considerably lighter, with more dull buff in their tints. I have found 

 nests belonging to this species in large hollows of decayed trees, and 

 twice in the fissures of rocks. In all these cases, little preparation had 

 been made previous to the laying of the eggs, as I found only a few 

 grasses and feathers placed under them. 



The Great Horned Owl lives retired, and it is seldom that more than 

 one is found in the neighbourhood of a farm, after the breeding season ; 

 but as almost every detached farm is visited by one of these dangerous 

 and powerful marauders, it may be said to be abundant. The havock 

 which it commits is very great. I have known a plantation almost 

 stripped of the whole of the poultry raised upon it during spring, by one 

 of these daring foes of the feathered race, in the course of the ensuing 

 winter. 



This species is very powerful, and equally spirited. It attacks Wild 

 Turkeys when half-grown, and often masters them. Mallards, Guinea- 

 fowls, and common barn fowls, prove an easy prey, and on seizing 

 them it carries them off in its talons from the farm-yards to the interior 

 of the woods. When wounded, it exhibits a revengeful tenacity of spirit, 

 scarcely surpassed by any of the noblest of the Eagle tribe, disdaining to 

 scramble away like the Barred Owl, but facing its enemy with undaunted 

 courage, protruding its powerful talons, and snapping its bill, as long as 

 he continues in its presence. On these occasions, its large goggle eyes 

 are seen to open and close in quick succession, and the feathers of its 

 body, being raised, swell out its apparent bulk to nearly double the na- 

 tural size. 



