GREAT HORNED OWL, OR CAT OWL. 137 
the ground before he could disengage himself from the 
feline grasp.* 
An Owl of this species, which I have observed in a 
cage, appeared very brisk late in the morning, hissed 
and blew when approached with a stick, and dashed at 
it very heedlessly with his bill ; he now and then uttered 
a ’ ko-koh , and was pretty loud in his call at an earlier 
hour. When approached, he circularly contracted the 
iris of the eyes to obtain a clearer view of the threatened 
object; he also listened with great quickness to any 
sound which occurred near his prison, and eyed the 
flying pigeons, which passed by at some distance, with a 
scrutinizing and eager glance. When fed, he often had 
the habit of hiding away his superfluous provision. 
As far as I have been able to observe the retiring man- 
ners of this recluse, he slumbers out the day chiefly in 
the dark tops of lofty trees. In these, according to 
Wilson, he generally begins to build in the month of 
May, though probably earlier in the Southern States. 
The nest is usually placed in the fork of a tree, made of 
a considerable pile of sticks, and lined with dry leaves 
and some feathers ; and, as a saving of labor, sometimes 
they select a hollow tree for the purpose. The eggs are 
said to be 4, round, of nearly the size of those of a com- 
mon hen and equally white ; those of the Bubo , often de- 
posited in the crannies of ruins, or holes of rocks, only 
2 and rarely 3, exceed in size the egg of the domestic 
fowl, and are also of the same color. 
The male of this species is about 20 inches in length. The bill is 
black. The irids bright yellow. The horns are broad, and 3 inches 
in length, formed of 12 or 14 feathers, with black webs and edged 
with brownish yellow; the face ferruginous, bounded by a band of 
black ; a whitish space between the bill and eyes. Beneath, marked 
* A Mr. Barlow, who saw this encounter, published a drawing of the action as he 
had witnessed it. 
