J50 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



after another the others overcame their fears and dined 

 for the first time on fish. The boldness of Silent Wing 

 won the boy's heart, and he determined when the proper 

 time came to take him as a pet. 



Ever afterwards, when the boy visited the nest, Silent 

 Wing always showed greater boldness and was more 

 friendly than any of the others. He and the boy became 

 great friends, and the boy learned to recognize him and to 

 distinguish him from his fellows. 



After the birds were fed they felt assured of the good 

 intentions of their visitor, and permitted him to take them 

 cut of the nest and set them in a row on the limb, tho 

 they protested against the blinding light by snapping 

 their bills and blinking their great golden eyes in the most 

 droll way. Soon, one after another, they began to doze 

 off, and the boy put them back into the nest and went 

 his way with the determination to visit them as often as 

 possible; but he kept to himself the secret of their ex- 

 istence. 



The great horned owl is one of the largest American 

 owls. It has a spread of wing of four or five feet, and often 

 grows large enough to kill a half grown turkey and carry 

 it off. It lives largely on poultry, the larger wild birds, 

 and rabbits or squirrels, tho occasionally it catches even 

 opossums and woodchucks. Most varieties of owls are bene- 

 ficial, living on mice, rats, and other small rodents and 

 large insects. In the early days, when these owls were 

 plentiful and poultry houses all but unknown, they earned 

 such a reputation as chicken thieves that the whole owl 

 race has suffered at the hands of man ever since. This 

 owl is still occasionally met in practically every State of 

 the union. It has such an abundance of warm fluffy 



