If disturbed they either enter the hole, or, uttering a shrill harsh cry, move with a remarkably undulatory flight to a short distance, and then turning round, steadily gaze at their pursuer.

Occasionally in the evening they may be heard hooting.

I found in the stomachs of two which I opened the remains of mice, and I one day saw a small snake killed and carried away.

It is said that snakes are their common prey during the daytime.

I may here mention, as showing on what various kinds of food owls subsist, that a species killed among the islets of the Chonos Archipelago had its stomach full of good-sized crabs.