BIRDS OF PREY 173 



never saw. Then every feather was carefully combed 

 out with the point of the bill until it felt comfortable and 

 lay well in its place. For birds so untidy in the care 

 of their nest, these Owls are surprisingly particular about 

 their own toilet. 



375 d. PACIFIC HORNED OWL. — Bubo virginianus 

 pacificus. 



Family : The Horned Owls and Hoot Owls. 



Length : About 16.00 to 18.00. 



Adults : Upper parts grayish, mottled with buff and darker ; under 



parts heavily mottled light and dark grayish. 

 Geographical Distribution : The wood regions east and south of the 



humid coast belt, almost throughout the State. 

 Breeding Range : Same as Geographical Distribution. 

 Breeding Season : February, March, and April. 

 Nest: In hollow trees ; 30 to 50 feet from the ground. 

 Eggs: 3 ; white. 



Among the tall redwood timber about Rowardennan, 

 the hooting of a chorus of Horned Owls at dusk is a 

 weird, ghostly sound. The theory has been advanced 

 that the call of the owl is a means of terrifying the small 

 animals, which, by their excitement, would reveal their 

 presence to the keen ears of the soft-winged hunter. But 

 this is not always the case, for those six or eight Horned 

 Owls which congregated each night in the trees close 

 together, and made the moonlight hours vocal with their 

 uncanny notes, evidently did so from the mere joy of 

 too-hooing. The effect in itself was bad enough, but 

 when one thought of the timid little wood creatures 

 trembling in their nests from terror at the sound, one 



