Owls.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



283 



any other by the hunters, which may be partly at- 

 tributed to its boldness and its habit of flying about 

 by day. In the summer season it feeds principally 

 on mice and insects ; but in the snow-clad regions, 

 which it frequents in winter, neither of these are to 

 be procured, and it then preys mostly on ptarmigan. 

 It is a constant attendant on the flocks of ptarmigan 

 in their spring migrations to the northward. It 

 builds its nest on a tree, of sticks, grass, and fea- 

 thers, and lays two white eggs. When the hunters 

 are shooting grouse, this bird is occasionally at- 

 tracted by the report, of the gun, and is often bold 

 enough, on a bird, being killed, to pounce down 

 upon it, though it may be unable, from its size, to 

 carry it off. It is also known to hover round the 

 fires made by the natives at night." ( 4 Fauna 

 Boreali- Americana.') 



The colouring is as follows: — Forehead dotted 

 with white and brown ; outer margin of the facial 

 disc black; upper parts marked with brown and 

 white spots of various forms : on the borders of the 

 wings are similar white spots disposed on a brown 

 ground ; throat whitish ; the other lower parts white, 

 transversely striped with ashy brown ; at the inser- 

 tion of the wings a great spot of blackish brown ; 

 tail-feathers ashy brown, striped at considerable 

 distances with transversal narrow zigzags; bill 

 yellow, varied with black spots according to age ; 

 iris bright yellow ; feet feathered to the claws. 

 Total length about fifteen inches. The colours of 

 the female are less pure than those of the male, 

 and she is rather larger — measuring seventeen or 

 eighteen inches. 



1302.— The Gee at Owl 

 (Bubo maximus). The generic characters of Bubo 

 (Cuvier) are these : — Conch of the ear small ; facial 

 disc imperfectly formed ; two tufts or feathered horns 

 above the eyes. 



This species is the Strix Bubo of Linnaeus ; Le 

 grand Due of the French ; Gulb, Gufo grande, and 

 Gufo reale of the Italians ; Schuffut, Uhu, Grosse 

 ohreule Huhu of the Germans ; Uff of the 'Fauna 

 Suecica ;' Buhu of the Lower Austrians ; Great Owl, 

 or Eagle Owl, of Willughby, Ray, and Pennant. 



The Great Owl is the largest of the Strigidse, and 

 is most probably the jSw« of Aristotle, and the Bubo 

 funebris mentioned by Pliny, and of which the ap- 

 pearance upon two occasions within the walls of 

 Rome occasioned no little alarm, a lustration being 

 performed each time to purify the city. Butler thus 

 humorously alludes to the circumstance ; — 



" The Roman Senate, when within 

 The city walls an owl was seen, 

 Did cause their clergy with lustrations 

 (Our Synod calls humiliations) 

 The round-faced prodigy t' avert 

 From doing town and country hurt." 



The great or eagle owl is a native of the exten- 

 sive forests of Hungary, Russia, Germany, and Switz- 

 erland, and is said to occur eastward as far as 

 Kamtchatka. It is rare in France, and never seen 

 in Holland. Pennant states that it has been shot in 

 Yorkshire, and Latham adds Kent and Sussex as 

 localities in which it has been found ; it is said to 

 have been seen also in Orkney. In Mr. Stewart's 

 ' Catalogue of the birds of Donegal,' is the remark, 

 that " four of these birds paid us a visit for two 

 days after a great storm from the north, when the 

 ground was covered with snow. They have not 

 been since seen here. As I am informed that a 

 pair of them breed in Tory Island, about nine miles 

 to the north of this coast, it is probable that they 

 came from that island : I have heard of them no- 

 where else." Young roes and fawns, hares, rabbits, 

 rats, and moles, reptiles, and winged game are the 

 prey of this species. From its lonely retreat in 

 some deep forest glen, some rift among hoary rocks, 

 where it reposes in silence during the day, this 

 winged marauder issues forth at night, intent upon 

 its victims, its harsh dismal voice resounding at 

 intervals through the gloomy solitudes of a wild and 

 savage scene. 



The eagle-owl makes its nest in the fissures of 

 rocks, in old ruined and deserted castles, and simi- 

 lar places. The eggs are two or three in number, 

 round, and white. The young are abundantly sup- 

 plied with food, and the broods of partridges and 

 moor-fowl are sadly thinned to supply their wants. 



This noble bird is upwards of two feet in length. 

 The upper surface is barred, waved, and streaked 

 with black on a mingled brown and yellow ground. 

 The throat in the male is white ; the under surface 

 is yellow, with longitudinal dashes of black on the 

 chest, and fine transverse bars below ; tarsi feathered 

 to the toes ; beak and claws black ; iris fine orange 

 colour. 



1303. — The Virginian Horned Owl 

 (Bubo Virginianus). Due de Virginie of Buffon ; 

 Netowky-omesew of the Cree Indians, according to 

 Mr. Hutchins ; Otowuck-oho, of the Crees of "the 

 plains of the Saskatchewan, according to Dr. 

 Richardson. 



The species is a native of North America, being 



found in almost every quarter of the United States, 

 and in the Fur-countries where the timber is of 

 large size. 



"Wilson thus describes the haunts and habits of 

 the Virginian horned owl : — " His favourite resi- 

 dence is in the dark solitudes of deep swamps, 

 covered with a growth of gigantic timber ; and 

 here, as soon as the evening draws on, and mankind 

 retire to rest, he sends forth such sounds as seem 

 scarcely to belong to this world. . . Along the 

 mountain shores of the Ohio, and amidst the deep 

 forests of Indiana, alone and reposing in the woods, 

 this ghostly watchman has frequently warned me 

 of the approach of morning, and amused me with 

 his singular exclamations. Sometimes sweeping 

 down and around my fire, uttering a loud and sud- 

 den ' Waugh O ! Waugh O ! ' sufficient to have 

 alarmed a whole garrison. He has other nocturnal 

 solos, one of which very strikingly resembles the 

 half-suppressed screams of a person suffocating or 

 throttled." Wilson treats this visitation like a 

 philosopher, but after reading his description and 

 that of Nuttall (' Ornithology of the United States'), 

 we shall cease to wonder at the well-told tale in 

 'Fauna Boreali- Americana,' of the winter night of 

 agony endured by a party of Scottish Highlanders 

 who, according to Dr. Richardson, had made their 

 bivouac in the recesses of a North American forest, 

 and inadvertently fed their fire with a part of an 

 Indian tomb which had been placed in the secluded 

 spot. The startling notes of the Virginian horned 

 owl broke upon their ear, and they at once con- 

 cluded that so unearthly a voice must be the moan- 

 ' ing of the spirit of the departed, whose repose they 

 supposed they had disturbed. 



The flight of this bird is elevated, rapid, and 

 graceful. It sails with apparent ease in large circles, 

 and rises and descends without the least difficulty, 

 by merely inclining its wings or its tail as it passes 

 through the air. Now and then it glides silently 

 close over the earth with incomparable velocity, 

 and drops as if shot dead on the prey beneath. At 

 other times it suddenly alights on the top of a fence, 

 stake, or dead stump, and utters a shriek so horrid, 

 that the woods around echo to its dismal sound. 

 During the utterance of the deep gurgling cries so 

 well described by Wilson, it moves its body, and 

 particularly its head, in various grotesque ways, 

 and at intervals violently snaps its bill. Its food 

 consists of various gallinaceous birds, half-grown 

 turkeys, domestic poultry of all kinds, ducks, grouse, 

 hares, opossums, and squirrels ; and whenever chance 

 throws a dead fish on the shore, this bird feeds on 

 it with peculiar avidity. The Virginian horned owl 

 is very powerful, and equally spirited. Mallards, 

 guinea-fowl, and common fowls fall an easy prey, 

 and are carried off in its talons to the depths of 

 the woods. When wounded, says Audubon, it ex- 

 hibits a revengeful tenacity of spirit, scarcely sur- 

 passed by the noblest of the eagle tribe ; disdaining 

 to scramble away, it faces its enemy with undaunted 

 courage, protruding its powerful talons, and snap- 

 ping its bill. Its large goggle eyes open and shut 

 in quick succession ; and the feathers of its body are 

 puffed up, and swell out its apparent bulk to nearly 

 double the natural size. In some districts it is a 

 great nuisance to the settler, making sad havoc 

 among his stock of poultry. Among some of the 

 Indian nations a sort of reverential horror is en- 

 tertained towards this bird, and the priests and 

 conjurers have adopted it as the symbol of their 

 office, carrying about with them a stuffed specimen 

 with glass eyes, which excites general awe. This 

 bird usually constructs a bulky nest in the forked 

 branch of a tree, composed externally of crooked 

 sticks, and lined with coarse grass and feathers. 

 The eggs are three or four in number, and of a dull 

 white. 



In size this species is nearly, if not quite, as large 

 as its European representative, the eagle-owl, and 

 in the general style of colouring is similar, the 

 upper parts being waved and mottled with black 

 and brownish red ; a tinge of grey as the ground- 

 colour prevails on the. lower part of the back ; the 

 throat is pure white ; the rest of the under surface 

 is marked by innumerable narrow transverse dusky 

 bars, on a reddish ground-colour, thinly interspersed 

 with white ; beak and claws black ; iris bright 

 orange ; fascial disc brown with a margin of black. 



1304, 1305.— The Burrowing Owi 



(Noctua cunicularia). This singular little owl (if 

 the species be identical) is widely spread through 

 the American continent, everywhere inhabiting bur- 

 rows ; it is diurnal in its habits, as well as terres- 

 trial ; is of slender contour, and walks about with 

 ease elevated on long naked tarsi ; the fascial disc is 

 circumscribed. C. L. Bonaparte thus describes the 

 strange economy of this bird : — 



"In the trans-Mississipian territories of the United 

 States the burrowing owl resides exclusively in the 

 villages of the marmot or prairie dog, whose ex- 

 cavations are so commodious as to render it unne- 



cessary that our bird should dig for himself, as he is 

 said to do in other parts of the world where no 

 burrowing animals exist. These villages are very 

 numerous, and variable in their extent, sometimes 

 covering only a few acres, and at others spreading 

 over the surface of the country for miles together. 

 They are composed of slightly elevated mounds, 

 having the form of a truncated cone, about two feet 

 in width at the base, and seldom rising as high as 

 eighteen inches above the surface of the soil. The 

 entrance is placed either at the top or on the side, 

 and the whole mound is beaten down externally, 

 especially at the summit, resembling a much used 

 footpath. 



"From the entrance, the passage into the mound 

 descends vertically for one or two'i'eet, and is thence 

 continued obliquely downwards, until it terminates 

 in an apartment, within which the industrious 

 marmot constructs, on the approach of the cold 

 season, a comfortable cell for his winter's sleep. 

 This cell, which is composed of fine dry grass, is 

 globular in form, with an opening at top capable of 

 admitting the finger; and the whole is so firmly 

 compacted, that he might, without injury, be rolled 

 over the floor. 



" In all the prairie-dog villages the burrowing x>wl 

 is seen moving briskly about, or else in small flocks 

 scattered among the mounds, and at a distance it 

 may be mistaken for the marmot itself when sitting 

 erect. They manifest but little timidity, and allow 

 themselves to be approached sufficiently close for 

 shooting ; but if alarmed, some or ail of them soar 

 away and settle down again at a short distance ; if 

 further disturbed, their flight is continued until they 

 are no longer in view, or they descend into their 

 dwellings, whence they are difficult to dislodge. 



" The burrows into which these owls have been 

 seen to descend on the plains of the river Platte (a 

 tributary to the Missouri), where they are most nu- 

 merous, were evidently excavated either by the 

 marmot, whence it has been inferred by Say that 

 they were common though unfriendly residents of 

 the same habitation, or that our owl was the sole 

 occupant of a burrow acquired by the right of 

 conquest. That the latter idea is correct was 

 clearly presented by the ruinous condition of the 

 burrows tenanted by the owl, while the neat and 

 well-preserved mansion of the marmot showed the 

 active care of a skilful and industrious owner. We 

 have no evidence that the owl and marmot habitu- 

 ally resort to one burrow ; yet we are well assured 

 by Pike and others that a common danger often 

 drives them into the same excavation, where lizards 

 and rattlesnakes also enter for concealment and 

 safety. The owl observed by Vieillot in St. Do- 

 mingo digs itself a burrow two feet in depth, at the 

 bottom of which its eggs are deposited on a bed of 

 moss, herb stalks, and dried roots. 



"The note of our bird is strikingly similarto the 

 cry of the marmot, which sounds like Cheh, Cheh, 

 pronounced several times in rapid succession ; and 

 were it not that the burrowing owls of the West 

 Indies, where no marmots exist, utter the same 

 sound, it might be inferred that the marmot was 

 the unintentional tutor to the young owl : this cry 

 is only uttered as the bird begins its flight. The 

 food of the bird we are describing appears to con- 

 sist entirely of insects, as on examination of its 

 stomach nothing but parts of their hard wing-cases 

 were found." 



Azara describes the burrowing owl of Paraguay 

 under the name of Suinda : he states that " it never 

 enters woods or perches upon trees, but exclusively 

 haunts the open country where game abounds, 

 making its nest and concealing itself in the holes 

 or kennels of the armadilloes, which are not very 

 deep but well lined with hay and straw." Mr. 

 Darwin states that this species, on the plains of 

 Buenos Ayres, exclusively inhabits the holes of the 

 bizeacha, or viscacha (see page 71), but that in 

 Banda Oriental it is its own workman. "During 

 the open day, but more especially in the evening," 

 says this acute observer, "these birds may be seen 

 in every direction, standing frequently by pairs on 

 the hillocks near their burrows. If disturbed, they 

 either enter the hole, or, uttering a shrill, harsh cry, 

 move with a remarkably undulatory flight to a 

 short distance, and then turning round steadily gaze 

 at their pursuer. Occasionally in the evening they 

 may be heard hooting. I found in the stomachs of 

 two which I opened, the remains of mice, and I 

 one day saw a small snake killed and carried away. 

 It is said these latter animals are their common prey 

 during the daytime. I may here mention, as show- 

 ing on what various kinds of food owls subsist, that 

 a species that was killed among the islets of the 

 Chonos Archipelago had its stomach full of good- 

 sized crabs." (' Journal of Researches in Geology 

 and Natural History.') 



The general colour of this owl above is light 

 burnt umber, spotted with whitish ; the wings are 

 darker ; the lower part of the breast and under parts, 

 whitish. Length about ten inches. 



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