Identifier: birdsofnewenglan00sam (find matches)
Title: The birds of New Englandand adjacent states: containing descriptions of the birds of New England ... together with a history of their habitats ... ; with illustrations of many species of the birds, and accurate figures of their eggs
Year: 1870 (1870s)
Authors: Samuels, Edward Augustus, 1836-1908
Subjects: Birds Birds Birds
Publisher: Boston : Noyes, Holmes
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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k of crows discover the presence of one ofthese birds, they immediately collect from all quarters, andattack him on every side, uttering their harsh, discordantcries : the owl is kept dancing and dodging on the limb, hisperch, in a ludicrous manner; if he takes to flight, he ispursued by his enemies, and soon forced to alight. I haveoften been enabled to procure a specimen, by followinga noisy mob of this description; just as we often are ableto secure one of the smaller owls by proceeding to the copsewhere numbers of small birds — cat-birds, chewinks, andthrushes — are scolding at their enemy. I have had several specimens of the Great Horned Owlin captivity: they make amusing pets. When fed with rawmeat, they seldom take it freely from the hand or tongs;and often can be made to swallow it, only by our openingtheir bills, and putting in the meat. They seem to havethe power of seeing by daylight; for, if a living animal isintroduced into their cage, tliey instantly seize it. I have
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Great Horned Owl, Bubo Virginianus. Bouaparte. THE GREAT HORNED OWL. 63 often put in a dead mouse, with a string attached to it,by which I dragged it across the cage: an owl instantlyseized it, as if it were alive, and ate it. A living bat ( Ves-pertiUo Carolinensis), on being introduced, was instantlyseized, but, after being killed, was rejected. The strongmusky scent peculiar to these animals may have been thereason for the owls not eating it: if not, I cannot accountfor it. In eating its prey, the Owl stands on it with both feet, andtears it with its bill: if the piece torn off is large, the headis thrown back, and the repeated contraction of the musclesof the throat forces it down. In holding a mouse or othersmall object, all the talons of one foot are clenched in it,while the other foot is left free. On being approached, thisOwl, as indeed do almost all the others, faces the intruder,and follows his motions by turning his head, at the sametime snapping his bill. In drinking, the

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