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BIRDS OF PREY, 
from its note, or from the resemblance this bore to the bel- 
lowing of the ox. The Latin name Bubo has also reference 
to the same note of this nocturnal bird. According to 
Frisch, who kept one of these birds alive, its cries varied 
according to circumstances ; when hungry it had a muling 
cry like Piihu . I have remarked the young, probably, 
of our species utter the same low, quailing cry, while yet 
day-light, as it sat on the low branch of a tree ; the sound 
of both is, at times, also not unlike that made by the 
Hawks or diurnal birds of prey. Indeed, in gloomy 
weather, I have seen our species on the alert, flying 
about many hours before dark, and uttering his call of 
’ho Ico , /co Jco ho. Their usual prey is young rabbits, 
squirrels, rats, mice, quails, and small birds of various 
kinds ; and when these resources fail or diminish, they 
occasionally prowl pretty boldly around the farm-yard in 
quest of chickens, which they seize on the roost. Indeed 
the European Horned Owl frequently contends with the 
Buzzard for his prey, and generally comes off* con- 
queror ; blind and infuriate with hunger, one of these 
has been known to dart even upon a man, as if for con- 
flict, and was killed in the encounter.* My friend Dr. 
Boykin, of Milledgeville, in Georgia, assured me that one 
of our own daring nocturnal adventurers, prowling round 
his premises, saw a cat dozing on the roof of a smoke- 
house, and supposing grimalkin a more harmless, rabbit- 
like animal than appeared in the sequel, blindly snatched 
her up in his talons ; but finding he had caught a Tartar, 
it was not long before he allowed puss once more to 
tread the ground. In England the same error was com- 
mitted by an Eagle, who, after a severe conflict with a 
cat he had carried into the air, was at length brought to 
* This circumstance happened to a relative of the author’s in Lancashire, in 
whose possession he saw the mounted specimen of the bird. 
