192 FROM BLOMWON TO SMOKY. 



I tested this in an amusing way one day, by tak- 

 ing Puffy out in my boat to a point just to wind- 

 ward of a solitary sandpiper, and then setting 

 him adrift on a small board. At first the sand- 

 piper did not see him, but as the wind carried 

 the placid owl nearer and nearer the beach, the 

 tattler suddenly discerned him, and became stiff 

 with astonishment. He faced the owl, his head 

 poked forward and his body rigid, then with a 

 wild cry he flew, rising from the water and pass- 

 ing over the trees, away from the lake. 



Whippoorwills are not easy birds to watch 

 at night, but they usually fly toward the owl, 

 uttering excited " clucks," and fly several times 

 over it before going away to a distance. A mo- 

 ther night-hawk, with young, showed great cour- 

 age and sagacity in dealing with Puffy. I placed 

 the owl near her nest. She promptly flew down 

 on the side of the owl away from her young, and 

 fluttered in the grass as though wounded. Puffy 

 hopped toward her. She flew a few feet, he fol- 

 lowed, she flew a rod, he followed a third time. 

 She flew three or four rods, and, as he hopped 

 on, she rose and circled around him until, if he 

 had seen her nest in the first place, he never 

 could have remembered in which direction it lay. 



The hooting of a barred owl in the daytime, 

 or my imitation of the sound, almost invariably 

 brings birds to the spot. Crows will come a long 



