MAftSti WREN— GREAT HORNED OWL. 



3 



of the Southern States, which seem to be the places of their grand 

 winter rendezvous. 



The nest of the Song Sparrow is built in the ground under a 

 tuft of grass, and is formed of fine dry grass, lined with horse- 

 hair and other material ; it lays four or five eggs of a bluish 

 white, thickly covered with reddish-brown spots. It raises 

 usually three broods in the season. There are young ones often 

 found in the nest as early as the latter part of April, and as late 

 as the tenth of August. Sometimes the nest is built in a cedar 

 tree, six to eight feet from the ground, which seems to be very 

 singular for a bird that usually builds on the ground ; but this same 

 habit is found in another bird — the Red-winged Starling, which 

 sometimes builds its nest in the long grass or swamps, or in the 

 rushes, and at other times in low trees or alder-bushes. The male 

 and female are so nearly alike as to be scarcely distinguished from 

 each other. 



The Marsh Wren. {Cistothorus fialustris.') 



Fig. 6, Male. Fig. 7, Female. 



The Marsh Wren arrives from the South about the middle of 

 May ; as soon as the reeds and a species of Nymphica, usually 

 called " Splatter-dock" — which grow in luxuriance along the tide- 

 water of our rivers — are sufficiently high to shelter it. In such 

 places he is usually found, and seldom ventures far from the river. 

 His food consists of insects and their larvae, and a kind of small 

 green grasshopper that inhabits the reeds and rushes. His notes or 

 chirp has a crackling sound, resembling somewhat that produced by 

 air-bubbles, forcing their way through mud, or boggy ground when 

 trod upon, and can hardly be called a song. But low as he may 

 stand as a singer, lie stands high as an architect, for he excels in 

 the art of design, and constructs a nest, which, in durability, 

 warmth, and convenience, is far superior to the most of his musical 

 brethren. The outside is usually formed of wet rushes, well inter- 

 mixed with mud and fashioned into the shape of a cocoa-nut ; a 

 small round hole is left two-thirds up for his entrance, the upper 

 edge of which projects like a pent-house, over the lower, prevent- 

 ing the admittance of rain. Inside it is lined first with fine dry 

 grass, then with cow's hair and sometimes feathers. This nest, 

 when once dried by the sun, will resist any kind of weather, and 

 is generally suspended among the reeds and tied so fast to the sur- 

 rounding ones as to bid defiance to the wind and waves. The 

 female usually lays six eggs of a fawn color, and very small for 

 the size of the bird. They raise usually two broods in a season. 



He has a strong resemblance to the house Wren and still more 

 to the winter Wren, but he never associates with either of them ; 

 and the last named has left before the Marsh Wren makes his 

 appearance, which is about the beginning of September. The 

 hind claw of this little bird is large, semicircular, and very sharp ; 

 his bill slender and slightly bent; the nostrils prominent; the 

 tongue narrow, very tapering, sharp-pointed, and horny at the 

 extremity ; and for this reason he ought to be classed — as some 

 naturalists really have done with good cause — among the true 

 Certhiadae, or Creepers. His habits are also like those of the 

 Creepers, as he is constantly climbing along the stalks of reeds 

 and other aquatic plants in quest of insects. 



PLATE V. 



The Great Horned Owl. {Bubo virginianus.) 



Fig. 1. 



This well known formidable Owl is found in almost any part of 

 North America, from the icy regions to the Gulf of Mexico ; also 

 on the Western coast, but most abundantly in the central part of 

 this continent. 



His favorite resorts are the dark solitudes of swamps covered 

 with a growth of gigantic timber, which he makes resound 

 with his hideous cries, as soon as night sets in. At times he 

 sweeps down from a tree, uttering his loud Waugh O ! Waugh 

 O 1 so close to you, and so unexpectedly, that you can not help be- 

 ing startled. Besides this favorite note of his, he has other noctur- 

 nal solos, just as melodious, especially one that resembles very 

 strikingly the half-suppressed screams of a person being nearly 

 suffocated ; but after all, his peculiar cry is very entertaining. 

 Another of his notes sounds like the loud jabbering and cackling 

 of an old rooster pursued by a dog, and is kept up sometimes for 

 half an hour. You will always take pleasure in observing him, and 

 often, when quietly sitting under a tree, he will sweep so close by 

 you as almost to touch you with his wings ; but generally he shuns 

 the presence of men, and seems to know that man is the worst of 

 his enemies. 



At night he is very cautious, and even in the day-time he suffers 

 no one to approach — unlike the rest of the Owls, which allow the 

 gunner to approach them without showing signs of being alarmed. 

 The Great Horned Owl is rarely seen in day-time, the peculiar 

 coloring of his feathery dress agreeing perfectly with the bark of 

 the tree on which he sits, almost motionless. It sometimes hap- 

 pens, however, that one of the smaller warblers discovers him, and 

 alarms, by his cries, the whole feathered population of the forest, 

 which now tease and keep on annoying him till he is at last com- 

 pelled to leave his resting-place in disgust. 



But it is a different thing at night ; then he is lord. His flight, 

 which, in day-time, appears rather awkward, is then silent and very 

 swift. Sweeping low above the ground, generally, like the rest of 

 the Owl tribe, he rises also, with ease, to great heights, and his 

 movements are so quick that he catches regularly any bird he has 

 scared up from sleep. Any bird — the smallest warbler as well as 

 a chicken or a duck — will serve him for a meal ; and this may ac- 

 count for the circumstance that all birds, without an exception, 

 hate him. He lives also on squirrels, rats, and mice, of which he 

 destroys great numbers. 



He pairs usually in February. At this time the male, after hav- 

 ing performed the most ridiculous evolutions in the air, alights near 

 his chosen female, whom he delights with hisboundings, the snap- 

 ping of his bill, and his extremely ludicrous movements. This 

 style of love-making he practices in day-time as well as at night. 



His nest, which is proportionally very large, is usually built on 

 a thick horizontal branch of a big tree, close to the trunk. It has 

 been found in the crevice of a rock. It is . composed of crooked 

 sticks and coarse grasses, fibers, and feathers, inside. The eggs, 

 which number from three to five, and even six, are almost globular, 

 rough, and of a dirty white color. The male assists the female in 

 sitting on the eggs. The young are covered at first with a thick 

 white down, and remain in the nest until fully fledged. Even then 

 they follow their parents for a long time and are fed by them, ut- 

 tering a mournful, melancholy cry, perhaps to stimulate them to 

 pity. They are much lighter colored than the old ones, and ac- 

 quire their full plumage in the following spring. 



Although the Great Horned Owl, as above stated, prefers retire- 

 ment, he sometimes takes up his abode in the vicinity of a detached 

 farm, and causes great havoc among the poultry, especially the 

 young poultry, of the farmer, by occasionally grasping a chicken 

 or Guinea fowl with his talons, and carrying it off to the woods. 

 When wounded, he exhibits the most revengeful tenacity of spirit, 

 disdaining to scramble away like other Owls, but courageously 

 facing his enemy, producing his powerful talons and snapping his 

 bill. At such times his large eyes seem to double their usual size, 

 and he shuts and opens them alternately in quick succession as 

 long as his enemies remain in his presence. The rising of his 

 feathers on such an occasion gives him a very formidable appear- 

 ance, and makes him look nearly twice as large as usual. 



In lormer times, this Owl, as well as Owls in general, was re- 

 garded with a great deal of superstition, and we often find the Owl 



