MAY. 
177 
very fine species : it is a native of nearly the whole of North 
America^, but is rarely met with here. Its voice is peculi- 
arly loud and alarming : Wilson describes it in his usual 
happy manner : I have myself often heard it in the forests of 
Alabama, where in travelling through the swamps^ covered 
with gigantic beeches and sycamores^ entwined and tangled 
by the various species of briers and vines that hang in fes- 
toons from the trees, and amidst the evergreen bushes of the 
hystrix fan-palm, this ghostly watchman" lifts up his hol- 
low voice like a sentinel challenging the intruder. Through 
the afternoon, and especially as day wanes into evening, 
they may be heard from all quarters of the swamps ; and in 
the deep solitude and general silence of these gloomy recesses, 
the cry is peculiarly startling. " Ho ! oho ! oho ! waugh 
ho ! " is his call ; the last syllable uttered with particular 
earnestness, and protracted for some seconds, and gradually 
falling. The whole is given deliberately, in a loud and 
hollow tone ,* and one can scarcely be persuaded that it 
comes from a bird. They call and answer to each other, 
and I have made one answer my imitation of his call. But 
it is at night that this delightful music is heard to most ad- 
vantage : he sometimes makes a noise which Wilson justly 
compares to the half-suppressed screams of a person throttled, 
but I have heard this but seldom; the first appears to be 
his favourite song. There he goes ; as he flies, you may 
observe how exceeding noiselessly he glides through the air : 
all the owls have this property ; not a ruflle is to be heard : 
this arises from the very soft nature of their feathers ; an 
owl is almost all feathers, and they are loose and unwebbed 
in most parts of the body, and offer little resistance to the 
air. 
C. — What do they feed on ? 
F, — Small birds, field-mice, squirrels, and any animals 
that they can master. 
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