From the Birds of America
Aquatint engraving with original hand color
London: Robert Havell, 1827-1838
37 1/2 x 24 3/4 in.

“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 colour, 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.” - (Audubon’s Ornithological Biography, 1831).