The Horned Owls 



Taken near San Diego 



Photo by L. Huey and D. R. Dickey 



by the frequent, al- 

 though not regular, dep- 

 redations upon poultry. 

 Other predatory species 

 are not exempt, either. 

 Crows and Jays are fre- 

 quent victims, and 

 Screech Owl appears to 

 be a regular item on the 

 Bubonine bill of fare. 

 Air. Bowles relates, also, 

 that during the fall and 

 winter months on cer- 

 tain shooting preserves 

 these birds make a thor- 

 ough search every night 

 for wounded ducks. So 

 successful are they that 

 out of hundreds that are 

 wounded and lost by 

 sportsmen, it is unusual 

 to find one; while well picked carcasses are common. 



A government expert who has given great attention to the food of 

 hawks and owls summarizes thus: 1 "The Great Horned Owl does a vast 

 amount of good and if farmers would shut up their chickens at night 

 instead of allowing them to roost in trees and other exposed places, the 

 principal damage done by this bird would be prevented." From this 

 hopeful conclusion I find myself obliged to dissent, for I have yet to find 

 the nest of your Horned Owls which does not bear testimony to persistent 

 and outrageous depredations upon the bird world. 



Horned Owls, too, are of commoner occurrence than is sometimes 

 realized. Although normally bold and aggressive, the birds soon learn 

 caution, and because their local attachments are very strong, they will 

 forego the pleasure of song rather than desert the ancestral haunts. 

 Where danger has not taught discretion, they are quite free with their 

 nocturnal concerts; but they are known to nest in places where a single 

 full-voiced hoot would draw the fire of the countryside. The mating song 

 (save the mark!) is a succession of resonant bellowings in a single key — 

 Whoo, whoo, hoo-hoo, who — quite variable as to length and form. Besides 

 this the bird occasionally indulges in sepulchral laughter, hoo hoo hoo hoo 



PACIFIC HORNED OWL ON NEST 



1 U. S. Dept. of Ag. Biol. Surv. Circular No. 61, p. 16. 



my 



