GREAT HORNED OWL 189 



of the path, some ten rods west of the old Stratton cel- 

 lar in the woods. This is the largest pine thereabouts, 

 and the nest is some thirty-five feet high on two limbs 

 close to the main stem, and, according to Skinner, was 

 not much more than a foot across, made of small sticks, 

 nearly flat, " without fine stuff ! " There were but two 

 young. This is a path which somebody travels every 

 half-day, at least, and only a stone's throw from the 

 great road. There were many white droppings about 

 and large rejected pellets containing the vertebrae and 

 hair of a skunk. As I stood there, I heard the crows 

 making a great noise some thirty or forty rods off, and 

 immediately suspected that they were pestering one of 

 the old owls, which Skinner had not seen. It proved so, 

 for, as I approached, the owl sailed away from amidst 

 a white pine top, with the crows in full pursuit, and he 

 looked very large, stately, and heavy, like a seventy-four 

 among schooners. I soon knew by the loud cawing of the 

 crows that he had alighted again some forty rods off, and 

 there again I found him perched high on a white pine, 

 the large tawny fellow with black dashes and large erect 

 horns. Away he goes again, and the crows after him. 



June. 18, 1858. A boy climbs to the cat owl's nest 

 and casts down what is left of it, — a few short sticks 

 and some earthy almost turfy foundation, as if it were 

 the accumulation of years. Beside much black and white 

 skunk-hair, there are many fishes' scales (!) intimately 

 mixed with its substance, and some skunk's bones. 



Jan. 30, 1859. How peculiar the hooting of an owl ! 

 It is not shrill and sharp like the scream of a hawk, but 

 full, round, and sonorous, waking the echoes of the wood. 



