WHAT BIRDS SAY AND SING 229 



and wavering until it makes you shiver at times, 

 again it is cut off in rather short, sharp deHvery. 



The barred owl and the barn owl deliver a suc- 

 cession of: " Whoo-who-hoo, to-whoo-ah" 's their 

 cries differently divided and inflected, but both 

 birds uttering a succession of these syllables in 

 different combinations. To the ear of the aver- 

 age human, any owl cry is harrowing, yet these 

 owls seldom lift their voices except when they are 

 making love or feeding, neither occupation being 

 in the least disagreeable to humanity. 



One of the component parts of life at Limber- 

 lost Cabin, north, either summer or winter is the 

 great horned owls. We have magnificent speci- 

 mens, standing over two feet in height, with a yard 

 of wing sweep; their residence I shall not betray. 

 For these birds I have a peculiar feeling of com- 

 passion, since the hand, the trap, and the gun of 

 everyone else are against them. It is my business 

 to guard their location, to dump into the lake 

 the bodies of poisoned chickens set for them, to 

 release them from traps, to forbid guns, and to 

 protect them in every way possible to me; al- 

 though I very well know that on summer nights 

 they prey upon many of my most beautiful and 

 musical song birds perching in thickets and grape 

 vine entanglements. In a prolonged, wavering 

 cry, the utterance of the horned owl runs : " Whoo, 

 hoo-hoo! Whoo, hoo-hoo-hoo ! " There is a time 

 during December and early January when these 



