84 Contributions from the Charleston Museum. 



154. Bubo virginianus (Gmel.). Great Horned Owl. 



The Great Horned Owl is a permanent resident found only 

 in original forest, and is by no means abundant anywhere. A 

 pair of these birds is generally to be found in certain tracts of 

 woods, where they remain for many years, and the places they 

 frequent are not encroached upon by others of the same species. 



This owl is much attached to the tree in which it roosts during 

 the day and will return to it almost daily for weeks at a time. 

 Although it hunts chiefly during the night, I have frequently 

 seen it engaged in that occupation by day, especially when the 

 young are hatched. 



In this region, the Great Horned Owl does not return to the same 

 nest year after year, as it is known to do in some of the northern 

 states, and after breeding in a certain nest one year it does not 

 return to it for from three to five years. It does not often build 

 a nest, but uses the deserted nest of the Bald Eagle, Florida 

 Red-shouldered Hawk, or Crow; and I have found the eggs de- 

 posited in a very slight depression in a giant pine formed by the 

 junction of five huge limbs. In this instance no nest was made, 

 the eggs being deposited on the bare wood. This species breeds 

 very irregularly. I examined a nest on January 22, 1898, which 

 contained two young birds; one about ten days old, the other 

 younger. This nest, which was built by a hawk, was 100 feet 

 from the ground, and also contained a very large rat, the head 

 of which was eaten off. On January 19, 1902, I found a nest 

 containing one egg, and left it until the 27th in order to get the 

 other egg, but the set was not increased. A set of two eggs was 

 taken, January 26, 1903, from a depression 59 feet from the ground 

 in a gigantic pine. This owl lays one or two eggs, which are 

 white and globular. They measure 2.25x1-80. 



The notes of the two sexes are entirely different. Those of 

 the male resemble "hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo," while those of the female 

 may be rendered "toot-a-loot, toot-a-loot, toot." 



Although the Great Horned Owl destroys poultry and birds, 

 it is considered a beneficial species in some localities because 

 it preys upon rabbits that injure certain crops. 



155. Nyctea nyctea (Linn.). Snowy Owl. 



I have never seen any examples of this beautiful species taken 

 in this state, and I quote the following from Audubon's Birds 

 of America: 1 



1 1, us. ~" " 



