62 
BIRDS OF PREY. 
Florida, and in Oregon; it exists even beyond the tropics, 
being very probably the same bird described by Marcgrave as 
inhabiting the forests of Brazil. All climates are alike to this 
Eagle of the night, the king of the nocturnal tribe of American 
birds. The aboriginal inhabitants of the country dread his 
boding howl, dedicating his effigies to their solemnities, and, as 
if he were their sacred bird of Minerva, forbid the mockery of 
his ominous, dismal, and almost supernatural cries. His favor- 
ite resort, in the dark and impenetrable swampy forests, where 
he dwells in chosen solitude secure from the approach of every 
enemy, agrees with the melancholy and sinister traits of his 
character. To the surrounding feathered race he is the Pluto 
of the gloomy wilderness, and would scarcely be known out of 
the dismal shades where he hides, but to his victims, were he 
as silent as he is solitary. Among the choking, loud, guttural 
sounds which he sometimes utters in the dead of night, and 
with a suddenness whicli always alarms, because of his noiseless 
approach, is the ’waugh ho 'waugh ho ! which, Wilson re- 
marks, was often uttered at the instant of sweeping down 
around his camp-fire. Many kinds of Owls are similarly daz- 
zled and attracted by fire-lights, and occasionally finding, no 
doubt, some offal or flesh thrown out by those who encamp in 
the wilderness, they come round the nocturnal blaze with other 
motives than barely those of curiosity. The solitary travellers 
in these wilds, apparently scanning the sinister motive of his 
visits, pretend to interpret his address into “ ’ Who 'cooks for 
you all!" and with a strong guttural pronunciation of the final 
syllable, to all those who have heard this his common cry, the 
resemblance of sound is well hit, and instantly recalls the 
ghastly serenade of his nocturnal majesty in a manner which 
is not easily forgotten. The shorter cry which we have 
mentioned makes no inconsiderable approach to that uttered 
by the European brother of our species, as given by Buffon, 
namely, 'he-hoo, 'hoo-hoo, boo-hoo, etc. The Greeks called this 
transatlantic species Byas, either from its note or from the 
resemblance this bore to the bellowing of the ox. The Latin 
name Bubo has also reference to the same note of this noc- 
