GREAT HORNED OWL. 
257 
The female, and young birds, differ in having the ruff or 
tufts of feathers on the neck of a dark brown colour ; as well 
as the bar of black on the tail inclining much to the same tint. 
GREAT HORNED OWL. — STRIX VIRGINIANA. 
Plate L. Fig. 1. 
Arct. Zool. p. 228, No. 114 — Edw. 60 .—Lath. i. 119.— Turt. Syst. p. 166. — 
Peale's Museum , No. 410. 
B UBO VIRGINIANA. — Cuvier. * 
Le grand Hibou d’Amerique, Cuv. Reg. Anim. i. p. 329 Strix Virginiana, Bonap. 
Synop. p. 37 The Great Horned Owl, Aud. Orn. Biog. i. p. 313, pi. 61, 
male and female. — Strix (Bubo) Virginiana, North. Zool. ii. p. 82. 
The figure of this bird, as well as of those represented in 
the same plate, is reduced to one-half its natural dimensions. 
By the same scale the greater part of the Hawks and Owls of 
* Cuvier uses the title Bubo to distinguish those species, which, as in the 
genus Otus, have the tarsi feathered, and are furnished with egrets, but have 
the disk surrounding the face less distinctly marked, and have a small external 
conch. He assumes, as the type, the Eagle Owl of Europe, but places the 
Virginian species, in his genus Otus, with the small Long-eared Owl of 
Britain : the latter has the disk very distinct, and the ears large, the characters 
of Otus ; but the American bird is in every way a true Bubo, as defined by 
the great French naturalist. It is a genus of very extensive geographical dis- 
tribution ; individuals exist in almost every latitude, and in the four quarters of 
the world. Their abodes are the deep and interminable forests, their habits 
nocturnal, though they are not so much annoyed or stupified if disturbed 
in the day, and much more difficult to approach, earnestly watching their 
pursuer. 
An Eagle Owl, in my possession, remains quiet during the day, unless he is 
shewn some prey, when he becomes eager to possess it, and, when it is put 
within his reach, at once clutches it, and retires to a corner to devour at leisure. 
During night he is extremely active, and sometimes keeps up an incessant bark. 
It is so similar to that of a cur, or terrier, as to annoy a large Labrador house 
dog, who expressed his dissatisfaction by replying to him, and disturbing the 
inmates nightly. I at first mistook the cry also for that of a dog, and, without 
any recollection of the Owl, sallied forth to destroy this disturber of our 
repose ; and it was not until tracing the sound to the cage, that I became 
satisfied of the author of the annoyance. I have remarked, that he barks more 
incessantly during a clear winter night than at any other time, and the thin air, 
VOL. II. R 
