Bubo virg ini anus . 
2 
Lake IJmb ayo g, Ma ine. 
1897. that it was given. It was the only sound that either of them 
Sept. 7. made. 
^ Most of the time they sat very erect and quite motionless 
save for the slow, up-and-down, bobbing motion of the head 
common to most Owls. This was repeated every half minute or 
iZi 
less. Occasionally one or the other would crouch on hits perch 
It* 
and direct his gaze downward as if watching for a mouse in the 
marsh beneath. I repeatedly saw them swoop down a steep in¬ 
cline and heard them strike with a crash among the bushes or 
dry brush or with a splash in shallow water, but whether or 
no'? they captured any prey I could not see. Once, to my great 
i - * 
surprise, one of them flew off 30 or 50 yards from the top of 
a stub and then mounting nearly straight upwards about the 
same number of feet, beating its wings steadily and rapidly 
during the ascent, turned sharply downward again and scaled 
back to its perch. The whole evolution was so exactly like 
that of a Flycatcher that neither Will nor I doubted for a 
moment that the Owl actually tried for ; and probably caught, 
some flying insect ( no doubt a large beetle (I have foimd bee¬ 
tles in the stomachs of Great Horned Owls). It must have used 
its mouth alone for the feet were not extended or even shown 
during the flight. During ordinary, level flight they were 
often visible and sometimes hung down nearly to the full 
5-S" 
