booby owl n Cf booby n1
1 Usu = great horned owl n or barred owl n, but occas applied to other owls. Note: Both of these owls are large and known for their hooting cries; it is likely that they are not always distinguished, or, as described in quot 1896 below, are regarded as male and female of the same species. chiefly MD, DE ?obs Cf hoot owl n 1, tugadoo n
1861 PA Genl. Assembly House Repr. Jrl. 469 swPA, Mr. Donley presented a petition from inhabitants of Dunkard township, Greene county, for a law to tax booby owls. 1887 Cultivator & Country Gentleman 52.388 MD, I should like to picture a great horned owl (known here as “booby” owl). 1896 Nidiologist 3.122 MD, Syrnium nebulosum:—Barred Owl. . . In Somerset county this species is commonly supposed to be the ♀ “Booby Owl.” Ibid 123, Bubo virginianus:—Great Horned Owl; Booby Owl; Hoot Owl; Cat Owl. 1901 Wilson Bulletin 34.18 DE, “Down yer we have . . Cat Owl, Booby Owl, and little Squinch Owl.” ( . . Great-horned, Barn and Screech Owls.) 1907 Coshocton Daily Age (OH) [18 May 15]/2 (newspaperarchive.com), [Advt:] For Sale—Three large booby owls. . . Guernsey, Ohio. 1915 Speck Nanticoke Comm. DE 41, Booby owl—barred owl. 1943 Weslager DE Forgotten Folk 174, When the booby owl hoots before sunset, it means that rain is coming. 1966–68 DARE (Qu. Q1, . . The kind of owl that makes a shrill, trembling cry) Inf DC4, Hoot owl = booby owl; MD20, Booby owl, goes [ˈhuʔˈhuʔ]; (Qu. Q2) Infs DE3, MD42, Booby owl; MD15, Booby owl—another term for screech owl; MD34, Booby owl—large. [5 of 6 Infs old] 1985 Cumberland Sun. Times (MD) 10 Nov sec A 6/2 cnWV (as of c1910), The two great horned owls singing . . aroused fond memories of my boyhood in Preston County. That was 75 years ago when I began to hear those strange sounds in the dark woodlands and was told, ‘That’s a booby owl.’ 1991 Still Wolfpen Notebooks 161 sAppalachians, Booby owl: Barred owl.
2 = burrowing owl n. CA obs
1895 Woodland Daily Democrat (CA) 23 Dec [2]/4 (newspaperarchive.com), Fifty thousand dollars was expended in a system of sub-irrigation. It is now valueless, and the idle conduits are filling with sediment, while the booby owl finds a convenient shelter in the stand pipes. 1909 U.S. Pub. Health Serv. Pub. Health Rept. 24.1228 CA, There is reason to believe that the booby owl, which is a constant companion of the ground squirrel, . . may play an important rôle in the dissemination of the epizootic. 1920 Woodland Daily Democrat (CA) 10 Mar 1/3, She appeals through the press . . to spare the “booby” owl if only for the sake of the farmer, who through them is ridden to a large extent of rodent pests upon which the little owls prey. 2012 Capay Valley 8.20 cCA, Earlier generations have also referred to this little fellow as the “Ground Owl,” but my grandmother’s generation referred to these during her childhood as “Booby Owls.” . . They are the only known species of owl that actually lives underground when not out hunting. It’s easiest for them to use an abandoned squirrel hole, or a culvert, or an old pipe or pile of piping.