Hooting 
of 
Great 
Horned 
OyjIs 
direction, far and near. There seemed to be a dozen or more 
of them calling and a few singing among the dense pines behind 
3all f s Hill.J' 
As I was passing through Birch Field, two Great Horned 
Owls began hooting. They kept it up for about ten minutes, 
during which I remained in one spot listening to them. One, 
pine 
which was evidently in Lawrence's/woods beyond the Green Field, 
regularly uttered five notes (hop, hoo-hoo , hoo , hoo ) in slow 
measured, impressive tones. The voice of the other bird was 
pitched much higher and the eight notes which he invariably- 
uttered ( hoo. hoo-hoo-hoo . hoo- hoo-hoo , hoo ) were given more 
rapidly, I have repeatedly noticed a similar difference in 
the number and arrangement of notes when two of these Owls 
are answering one another and I believe that one form is 
characteristic of one sex and the other of the opposite sex, 
although I have no impression as to which is peculiar to the 
male and which to the female. On this occasion the deep¬ 
voiced bird with but five notes invariably hooted first. The 
other always began hooting immediately after the first had 
ceased and several times it cut in on the latter before it 
had finished^its hoot. 
As I have just said, I listened to these Owls until 
they ceased hooting. Indeed I could not tear myself away; 
for the sound of their voices thrilled and fascinated me as 
it always does. It was peculiarly impressive this evening 
Its 
owing to the: perfect keeping with the gloomy weather and to 
the fact that it had a wide margin of silence, the distant 
notes of a Robin being the only other sounds that broke the 
otherwise perfect stillness. 
