314 GREAT HORNED OWL.
rifle, he takes aim, touches the trigger, and the next instant sees the foe
falling dead to the ground. The bird is unworthy of his farther attention,
and is left a prey to some prowling oppossum or other carnivorous
quadruped. Again, all around is tranquillity. In this manner falls
many a Great Horned Owl on our frontiers, where the species abounds.
Differences of locality are no security against its depredations, for it
occurs in the highest mountainous districts, as well as in the low alluvial
lands that border the rivers, in the interior of the country, and in the
neighbourhood of the sea-shore. Every where it finds abundance of food.
It is, moreover, an extremely hardy bird, and stands the severest winters
of our northernmost latitudes. It is consequently found dispersed over
all parts of the United States.
The flight of the Great Horned Owl is elevated, rapid and gracefid.
It sails with apparent ease, and in large circles, in the manner of an eagle,
rises and descends without the least difficulty, by merely inclining its
wings or its tail, as it passes through the air. Now and then, it glides
silently close over the earth, with incomparable velocity, and drops, as if
shot dead, on the prey beneath. At other times, it suddenly alights on
the top of a fence-stake or a dead stump, shakes its feathers, arranges
them, and utters a skriek so horrid that the woods around echo to its dismal
sound. Now, it seems as if you heard the barking of a cur-dog;
again, the notes are so rough and mingled together, that they might be
mistaken for the last gurglings of a murdered person, striving in vain to
call for assistance; at another time, when not more than fifty yards distant,
it utters its more usual hoo, hoo, hoo-e, in so peculiar an under tone,
that a person unacquainted with the notes of this species might easily
conceive them to be produced by an Owl more than a mile distant. During
the utterance of all these unmusical cries, it moves its body, and
more particularly its head, in various ways, putting them into positions,
all of which appear to please it much, however grotesque they may seem
to the eye of man. In the interval following each cry, it snaps its bill,
as if by way of amusement; or, like the wild boar sharpening the edges
of his tusks, it perhaps expects that the action will whet its mandibles.
The food of the Great Horned Owl consists chiefly of the larger species
of gallinaceous birds, half-grown Wild Turkeys, Pheasants, and domestic
poultry of all kinds, together with several species of Ducks.
Hares, young Oppossums and Squirrels are equally agreeable to it, and
GREAT HORNED OWL. 315
whenever chance throws a dead fish on the shore, the Great Owl feeds
with peculiar avidity on it.
It is one of the most common species along the shores of the Ohio
and Mississippi, where it is to be met with at all seasons, being fond of
roosting amongst the thick-growing young cotton-wood trees and willows,
that cover the muddy sand-bars of these noble streams, as well as in the
more retired Avoody swamps, where the gloomy cypress spreads its broad
arms, covered with dangling masses of Spanish beard, which give way
to the gentlest breeze. In both such situations I have frequently met
with this owl: its body erect, its plumage closed, its tufted head-feathers
partially lowered, and its head half turned and resting on one shoulder.
When the sun shines brightly, the bird is easily approached; but if
the weather be cloudy, it rises on its feet, at the least noise, erects the
tufts of its head, gives a knowing kind of nod, flies off in an instant,
and generally proceeds to such a distance that it is difficult to find it
again. When disturbed while at roost on willows near a river, it sails
off low over the stream, as if aware that by so doing it renders its pursuit
more difficult. I once nearly lost my life by going towards one that
I had shot on a willow-bar, for, while running up to the spot, I suddenly
found myself sunk in quicksand up to my arm-pits, and in this condition
must have remained to perish, had not my boatmen come up and
extricated me, by forming a bridge of their oars and some driftwood,
during which operation I had to remain perfectly quiet, as any struggle
would soon have caused me to sink overhead.
I have related this occurrence to you, kind reader,—and it is only
one out of many,—to shew you that every student of nature must encounter
some difficulties in obtaining the objects of his research, although
these difficulties are little thought of when he has succeeded. So much
is this the case with me, that, could I renew the lease of my life, I could
not desire to spend it in any other pursuit than that which has at last
enabled me to lay before you an account of the habits of our birds.
Early in February the Great Horned Owls are seen to pair. The
curious evolutions of the male in the air, or his motions when he has
alighted near his beloved, it is impossible to describe. His bowings, and
theisnappings of his bill, are extremely ludicrous; and no sooner is the
female assured that the attentions paid her by the beau are the result of a
sincere affection, than she joins in the motions of her future mate. At this