The Audubon Reader (25 page)

The Barred Owl is a great destroyer of poultry, particularly of chickens when half-grown. It also secures mice, young hares, rabbits and many species of small birds, but is especially fond of a kind of frog of a brown color, very common in the woods of Louisiana. I have heard it asserted that this bird catches fish, but
never having seen it do so, and never having found any portion of fish in its stomach, I cannot vouch for the truth of the report.

About the middle of March these Owls begin to lay their
eggs. This they usually do in the hollows of trees on the dust of the decomposed wood. At other times they take possession of the old nest of a Crow or a Red-tailed Hawk. In all these situations I have found their eggs and
young. The eggs are of a globular form, pure white, with a smooth shell and are from four to six in number. So far as I have been able to ascertain they rear only one brood in a season. The young, like those of all other Owls, are at first covered with a downy substance, some of which is seen intermixed with and protruding from the feathers some weeks after the bird is nearly fledged. They are fed by the parents for a long time, standing perched and emitting a hissing noise in lieu of a call. This noise may be heard in a calm night for fifty or probably a hundred yards and is by no means musical. To a person lost in a swamp it is indeed extremely dismal.

The
plumage of the Barred Owl differs very considerably in respect to color in different individuals, more so among the males. The males are also smaller than the females, but less so than in some other species.

During the severe winters of our middle districts those that remain there suffer very much; but the greater number, as in some other species, remove to the Southern states. When kept in captivity, they prove excellent mousers.

The antipathy shewn to Owls by every species of day bird is extreme. They are followed and pursued on all occasions; and although few of the day birds ever prove dangerous enemies, their conduct towards the Owls is evidently productive of great annoyance to them. When the Barred Owl is shot at and wounded it snaps its bill sharply and frequently, raises all its feathers, looks towards the person in the most uncouth manner but, on the least chance of escape, moves off in great leaps with considerable rapidity.

The Barred Owl is very often exposed for sale in the New Orleans market. The Creoles make
gumbo
of it, and pronounce the flesh palatable.

[The Barred Owl,
Strix varia
, appears in Plate 46 of
The Birds of America
.]

Our goatsuckers, although possessed of great power of wing, are particularly attached to certain districts and localities. The species now under consideration is seldom observed beyond the limits of the Choctaw Nation in the state of Mississippi or the Carolinas on the shores of the Atlantic, and may with propriety be looked upon as the southern species of the United States.
Louisiana,
Florida, the lower portions of
Alabama and
Georgia are the parts in which it most abounds; and there it makes its appearance early in spring, coming over from Mexico and probably still warmer climates.

About the middle of March the forests of Louisiana are heard to echo with the well-known notes of this interesting bird. No sooner has the sun disappeared and the nocturnal insects emerge from their burrows than the sounds
“chuck-will’s-widow,”
repeated with great clearness and power six or seven times in as many seconds, strike the ear of every individual, bringing to the mind a pleasure mingled with a certain degree of melancholy which I have often found very soothing. The sounds of the Goatsucker at all events forebode a peaceful and calm night, and I have more than once thought are conducive to lull the listener to repose.

The deep ravines, shady swamps and extensive pine ridges are all equally resorted to by these birds; for in all such places they find ample means of providing for their safety during the day and of procuring food under night. Their notes are seldom heard in cloudy weather and never when it rains. Their roosting places
are principally the hollows of decayed trees whether standing or prostrate, from which latter they are seldom raised during the day excepting while incubation is in progress. In these hollows I have found them lodged in the company of several species of bats, the birds asleep on the moldering particles of the wood, the bats clinging to the sides of the cavities. When surprised in such situations, instead of trying to effect their escape by flying out they retire backwards to the farthest corners, ruffle all the feathers of their body, open their mouth to its full extent and utter a hissing kind of murmur not unlike that of some snakes. When seized and brought to the light of day they open and close their eyes in rapid succession as if it were painful for them to encounter so bright a light. They snap their little bill in the manner of
Flycatchers and shuffle along as if extremely desirous of making their escape. On giving them liberty to fly I have found them able to proceed until out of my sight. They passed between the trees with apparently as much ease and dexterity as if it had been twilight. I once cut two of the quill feathers of a wing of one of these birds and allowed it to escape. A few days afterwards I found it in the same log, which induces me to believe that they like many other birds resort to the same spot to roost or spend the day.

The
flight of the Chuck-will’s-widow is as light as that of its relative the well-known
Whippoorwill
, if not more so, and is more graceful as well as more elevated. It somewhat resembles the flight of the Hen-harrier, being performed by easy flappings of the wings interspersed with sailings and curving sweeps extremely pleasing to the bystander. At the approach of night this bird begins to sing clearly and loudly and continues its notes for about a quarter of an hour. At this time it is perched on a fence stake or on the decayed branch of a tree in the interior of the woods, seldom on the ground. The sounds or notes which it emits seem to cause it some trouble as it raises and lowers its head in quick succession at each of them. This over, the bird launches into the air and is seen sweeping over the cotton fields or the sugar plantations, cutting all sorts of figures, mounting, descending or sailing with so much ease and grace that one might be induced to call it the
fairy of the night
. If it passes close to one, a murmuring noise is heard, at times resembling that spoken of when the bird is caught by day. It suddenly checks its
course, inclines to the right or left, secures a beetle or a moth, continues its flight over the field, passes and repasses hundreds of times over the same ground and now and then alights on a fence stake or the tallest plant in the place, from which it emits its notes for a few moments with increased vivacity. Now it is seen following a road or a path on the wing and alighting here and there to pick up the beetle emerging from its retreat in the ground; again it rises high in air and gives chase to the insects that are flying there, perhaps on their passage from one wood to another. At other times I have seen it poise itself on its wings opposite the trunk of a tree and seize with its bill the insects crawling on the bark, in this manner inspecting the whole tree with motions as light as those by which the
Hummingbird flutters from one flower to another. In this manner Chuck-will’s-widow spends the greater part of the night.

The greatest harmony appears to subsist between the birds of this species, for dozens may be observed flying together over a field and chasing insects in all directions without manifesting any enmity or envy. A few days after the arrival of the male birds the females make their appearance and the love season at once commences. The male pays his addresses to the female with a degree of pomposity only equaled by the
Tame Pigeon. The female, perched lengthwise on a branch, appears coy and silent, whilst the male flies around her, alights in front of her and with drooping wings and expanded tail advances quickly, singing with great impetuosity. They are soon seen to leave the branch together and gambol through the air. A few days after this, the female, having made choice of a place in one of the most retired parts of some thicket, deposits two
eggs, which I think, although I cannot be certain, are all that she lays for the season.

This bird forms no nest. A little space is carelessly scratched amongst the dead leaves and in it the eggs, which are elliptical, dull olive and speckled with brown, are dropped. These are not found without great difficulty, unless when by accident a person passes within a few feet of the bird whilst sitting, and it chances to fly off. Should you touch or handle these dear fruits of happy love and, returning to the place, search for them again, you would search in vain; for the bird perceives at once that they have been
meddled with and both parents remove them to some other part of the woods where chance only could enable you to find them again. In the same manner they also remove the
young when very small.

This singular occurrence has as much occupied my thoughts as the equally singular manner in which the
Cow Bunting
deposits her
eggs, which she does like the
Common Cuckoo
of Europe one by one in the nests of other birds of different species from her own. I have spent much time in trying to ascertain in what manner the Chuck-will’s-widow removes her eggs or young, particularly as I found, by the assistance of an excellent dog, that neither the eggs nor the young were to be met with within at least a hundred yards from the spot where they at first lay. The Negroes, some of whom pay a good deal of attention to the habits of birds and quadrupeds, assured me that these birds push the eggs or young with their bill along the ground. Some farmers, without troubling themselves much about the matter, imagined the transportation to be performed under the wings of the old bird. The account of the Negroes appearing to me more likely to be true than that of the farmers, I made up my mind to institute a strict investigation of the matter. The following is the result.

When the Chuck-will’s-widow, either male or female (for each sits alternately) has discovered that the eggs have been touched, it ruffles its feathers and appears extremely dejected for a minute or two, after which it emits a low murmuring cry, scarcely audible to me, as I lay concealed at a distance of not more than eighteen or twenty yards. At this time I have seen the other parent reach the spot, flying so low over the ground that I thought its little feet must have touched it as it skimmed along, and after a few low notes and some gesticulations, all indicative of great distress, take an egg in its large mouth, the other bird doing the same, when they would fly off together skimming closely over the ground until they disappeared among the branches and trees. But to what distance they remove their eggs I have never been able to ascertain; nor have I ever had an opportunity of witnessing the removal of the young. Should a person coming upon the nest when the bird is sitting refrain from touching the eggs, the bird returns to them and sits as before. This fact I have also ascertained by observation.

I wish I could have discovered the peculiar use of the
pectinated claw
which this bird has on each foot; but, reader, this remains one of the many desiderata in ornithology, and I fear, with me at least, will continue so.

The Chuck-will’s-widow manifests a strong antipathy towards all snakes, however harmless they may be. Although these birds cannot in any way injure the snakes, they alight near them on all occasions and try to frighten them away by opening their prodigious mouth and emitting a strong hissing murmur. It was after witnessing one of these occurrences, which took place at early twilight, that the idea of representing these birds in such an occupation struck me. The beautiful little snake gliding along the dead branch between two Chuck-will’s-widows, a male and a female, is commonly called the
Harlequin Snake
, and is, I believe, quite harmless.

The
food of the bird now under consideration consists entirely of all sorts of insects, among which the larger species of moths and beetles are very conspicuous. The long bristly feathers at the base of the mandibles of these birds no doubt contribute greatly to prevent the insects from escaping after any portion of them has entered the mouth of the bird.

These birds become silent as soon as the young are hatched, but are heard again before their departure towards the end of summer. At this season, however, their cry is much less frequently heard than in spring. They leave the United States all of a sudden, about the middle of the month of August.

[The Chuck-will’s-widow,
Caprimulgus carolinensis
, appears in Plate 52 of
The Birds of America
.]

This Owl, although found in the Southern states, is there very rare. During a long residence in
Louisiana I have not met with more than two individuals. On advancing towards the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi we find them becoming rather more numerous; above the
Falls of the former they increase in number; and as the traveler advances towards the sources of that noble river their mournful notes are heard in every quarter during mild and serene nights. In
Virginia,
Maryland and all the eastern districts the bird is plentiful, particularly during the autumnal and winter months, and is there well known under the name of the
Screech Owl
.