THE GREAT OWL. 549 



The Great Owl is very courageous, and often fights with the Tawny- 

 Eagle, not unfrequently becoming victor in such contests. The fight 

 is sometimes so severe that it terminates in the death of both com- 

 batants. 



M. Bailly relates that he was told by reliable witnesses that an 

 Eagle and Great Owl, which were fighting together in the mountains 

 of Savoy, drove their claws so deep into one another's flesh that 

 the belligerents could not withdraw them, so both died on the scene 

 of action. In a similar fight near Zurich a Great Owl, which was the 

 conqueror, was so fastened to its adversary that even after both, fell 

 to the ground it was unable to disengage its talons, and in con- 

 sequence was taken alive. 



When wounded so as to be unable to fly, if attacked by dogs, 

 the Great Owl will sell its life dearly; for, turning upon its back, with 

 open claws and menacing bill, it fights its enemies as long as possessed 

 of life. 



In spite of this combative disposition, the Great Owl easily 

 becomes tame ; even learns its name, and comes at the call of 

 its master. Perfect liberty may then be safely allowed it, as it will 

 remain in the neighbourhood of its home, seldom failing to return at 

 meal-times. Frisch relates that he twice kept birds of this kind, and 

 that they lived for a considerable time; he fed them on ox-flesh. 

 They would sometimes swallow as many as five mice without stop- 

 ping, having first broken their bones with blows from their bills. In 

 case of necessity they would eat fish. Some hours after taking their 

 food, they ejected the bones and hair of their victims. Instances 

 have been known, however, in which this Owl would not submit to 

 confinement. 



The Great Owl is possessed of the strongest attachment to its 

 young. M. Cronstedt, a Swiss gentleman, lived for several years on 

 a farm situated at the foot of a mountain, on the top of which a 

 couple of Great Owls build their nest. The servants caught and shut 

 up in a hen-house one of the young birds, which thirst for rapine 

 had doubtless impelled prematurely to leave the maternal abode; 

 the next morning they were surprised to find at the door of the hen- 

 house a freshly-killed partridge. The idea was that the parent birds, 

 attracted by the cries of the young owl, had thus provided for its 

 sustenance : the same thing occurred fourteen days running. M. 

 Cronstedt, wishing to have ocular proof, watched during several 

 nights, in order to surprise the hen bird in this act of maternal love. 

 But he failed, probably because the bird, thanks to its powerful 

 vision, took an opportunity to leave her offspring's provisions at a 



