OUR AMERICAN OWLS. 



'43 



have been called " feathered cats," for the owl, cat-like, prowls at 

 night, and steals upon its victim by a quick, fluffy, still swoop or 

 spring. With the silent movements of a spirit, and a voice so super- 

 natural, and with certain associations of time and place, the effect is 

 appalling. As if burned into the brain-tissue with a hot iron, the 

 memory of a certain night experience when but a lad is still fresh 

 and vivid. It was a rural home ; sickness had entered at "the witch- 

 ing-time of night." No man around, and the well must stay by the ill ; 

 then who should go for the doctor, more than a mile away ? Impul- 

 sive and sympathetic, I was " the good and brave boy " to volunteer. 

 Not until after midnight was the doctor's house reached, and he was 

 out. Much disappointed that I must return alone, thinking to help 

 the matter, I ventured upon that country-boy expedient known as a 

 " short cut." So the open road was abandoned for a narrow path 

 which led to the old graveyard, which having reached, my timidity 

 began to increase. Cautiously I crossed the stile of the stone-wall, 

 and just as I had entered, the clock in tlie old church-tower struck 

 one ! There was first a startling shock, then a prolonged horror, for 

 the reverberations kept every fibre of my frame in a quivering thrill. 



Fig. 1. The White or Bakn Owl of Europe (Strix fiammea). 



I think the moon was large, and running low, for my shadow which 

 preceded me was frightfully long, while parallel to it, in most forbid- 

 ding neighborship, lay the dark shadow of a tall Lombardy poplar, 

 as if reflecting some huge monumental shaft. The grave of a sainted 

 mother was near, and a certain sense of her nearness somewhat 

 soothed the fears of that little night waif. I had now got well be- 

 yond the saddening shadow of that shaft-like tree, and the exit from 

 the churchyard was but a few steps off, and my courage was begin- 

 ning to rise, when lo ! from out of that dark shaft behind me burst 

 a savage, piercing scream, as it might be of some goblin sentry : 



