Bubo vlrginianus. ( ?) 
\/ 
1893, 
October 7. 
( 2 ) 
Lake Umbagog. 
Fine Point. 
sufficiently uncanr.y to make my flesh creep and the cold shivers 
run up my back, despite the knowledge of their origin, and the in¬ 
tense interest with which I listened to them for nearly half an 
hour. The bird made three distinct sounds which may be roughly 
characterized as a yell, a whistle, and a hoot. The yell was re¬ 
peated from four to six times a minute and was-oftencontinued for 
several minutes in succession. Then the bird would hoot from one 
to three times and immediately afterwards begin yelling again. It 
whistled only twice or rather there were only two whistling peri¬ 
ods. The yell varied greatly in tone and expression and somewhat 
in form, one variation usually running gradually into another 
through intermediate forms. The three typical or extreme forms 
were haink . very similar to the cry of Ardea herodias, ah' ouk . 
exceedingly like the honk of the Canada Goose, and a snarling cat¬ 
like scream. The haink was not louder than that of the Heron; 
the other cries could probably have been heard a mile away. 
The hoot ordinarily consisted of seven syllables 
hoo., hoo.-hoo.-hoo, hoo-hoo . hoo ) with a distinct pause after the 
first and a slight pause after the sixth. An eighth hoo was occa¬ 
sionally added, sometimes before, sometimes after the others. Once 
the bird called simply ho-ho-ho-ho-ho. Its voice when hooting was 
/\,(- 
softer and less sonorous than th^&a of the Great Horned Owl, less 
deep and hollow than that of the Barred Owl. Indeed, it was rather 
a coo than a hoot and possessed a gentle dove-like quality in 
strange contrast with the truly fiendish character of the yells 
