92 IN BERKSHIRE FIELDS 



encountered less and less often now. You have to 

 seek the high Rockies to find them a characteristic 

 feature in the aerial perspective. 



But the owls we have with us still. The taxi- 

 dermists agree that more great horned owls were 

 brought in the last two winters than in any season 

 for years. In fact, the supply of artificial eyes for 

 the stuffed specimens was entirely exhausted before 

 the winter of 191 7-1 8 was over. Probably this 

 means that the severe cold added many birds from 

 the north to our resident population. The great 

 horned owl, or "six-hooter" as he is called in the 

 Adirondacks, because of his "song," is the bad citi- 

 zen among the owl tribe. (His "song," however, is 

 by no means always of six hoots.) He is a big bird, 

 standing often a full two feet high, and weighs about 

 four pounds. He hunts by night, as a rule, but 

 more than once he has been caught out in the day- 

 time, and I have known of one with a crow in his 

 talons, pursued by thousands of live crows, in full 

 day. The crows did not molest him while he 

 was perched, but when he attempted to fly they 

 swarmed down upon him. It was in deep woods, 

 and the uproar could be heard a mile away. He 

 did not escape till darkness came. One of these 

 big owls can easily kill a hen, or even a turkey, 

 and on farms which adjoin the wild forests where 

 the owls love to nest (in hollow trees or even in 

 old crows' nests) they are often a serious pest. 

 They also kill skunk, woodchuck, game-birds, and 

 rabbits, as well as song-birds and mice. The call 

 of the great horned owl is generally represented as 

 follows: Whoo, hoo-hoo-hoo, whoo, whoo. It doesn't 



