STRANGE CREATURES WITH STRANGE VOICES. 99 



meadows of Grafton County, IS". H., and I know tliat 

 he makes the noise when there is not a bit of water 

 in his vicinity. Bradford 

 Torrey records a most inter- 

 esting performance of a bit- 

 tern which he witnessed in 

 company with Mr. Walter 

 Faxon,* and he declares that 

 the bird was perched on 

 the dry remnants of an old 

 haystack. He furthermore 

 says the sounds are not en- 

 tirely caused by an exertion 

 of the vocal organs, but are 

 connected in some way with 

 the distention of the crop 

 and the drawing in of the 

 breath, not the throwing of 

 it out after the crop is full. 



In the dim twilight suc- 

 ceeding a warm day in spring 

 another strange but familiar note comes across the 

 meadow from the edge of the bordering wood, and 

 we recognize at once the hoot of an owl. It is a 

 barytone note, and from its depth and freedom from 



The Great Horned Owl. 



* The Auk, vol. vi, p. 1. 



