THE BIRD OF NIGHT 



keep it awhile as a pet. Captive owls do not get very 

 tame, but they feed heartily on raw meat and do well 

 if they have room enough to exercise. 



Another time I was taking a bicycle ride when I came 

 across a boy who had caught one of these owls in the 

 same way in his orchard. I happened to want one then 

 to study, so I paid him for it, put the owl in my pocket, 

 and, taking the precaution to pin down the lapel, 

 started homeward. When I was about halfway back, 

 I felt to see how the owl was getting on, and found, to 

 my chagrin, that it had escaped! 



Last winter one of these owls spent his sleepy days 

 in a hole in a tree right on the main street of the village, 

 about twenty-five feet from the ground. At dusk it 

 would poke its head out of the hole and gaze around 

 for awhile, then crawl out and perch on a limb nearby 

 for a few moments before flying off on a mousing 

 expedition or to catch a fat English Sparrow — for its 

 breakfast, I suppose we would call it, as our night is 

 the owl's day. The boys soon discovered the owl's 

 retreat, and would throw snowballs at the hole, to 

 make the big-eyed bird come to the door. It would 

 only look out, though, toward night. Some of the boys 

 were for climbing up to catch it, but Ned persuaded 

 them to let it alone. 



In bitter winter weather the poor little owls had a 

 hard time of it, for they, as well as some other kinds of 

 owls, do not migrate very much, and they crawl in 

 almost anywhere to try to keep warm. One of them 



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