Bubus virginianus
Order Strigiformes
Family Strigidae
Adult.— Head and neck speckled with black and tawny; rest of the upper parts speckled with gray; collar across breast white; rest of the lower parts tawny, barred with black; disk tawny; ear-tufts nearly two inches long, black and tawny; eyes yellow.
Nest, in trees, often a deserted hawk’s or crow’s nest.
Eggs, white.
The Great Horned Owl is a permanent resident of New York and New England; it is found only in extensive tracts of woodland, particularly where swamps give shelter to hares and grouse, on which it feeds. Its common call is a deep-voiced hoot, made up of a number of syllables. It differs from the cry of the Barred Owl in keeping on the same note to the end, and being less regular in form and accent. It may be written thus: Whoo’, hoo-hoo, hoo, hoo. If discovered in the daytime, it may be readily identified by its great size, prominent ear-tufts, and broad white collar.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)