UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES AFIELD 145 



perfect accord with the crows, and in the half 

 hour or possibly longer that I detained my party to 

 watch this performance I never once saw the 

 crows make the slightest aggressive move against 

 any of the other birds. 



It would be a wonderful thing if I could make 

 you see the great horned owl in a frenzy of anger 

 and fear, hissing and snapping right* and left, his 

 head seeming positively to turn a complete circle on 

 his neck when the most impudent of the tormentors 

 actually flew against his head and shoulders and 

 succeeded in pulling a feather from him in passing. 

 He made repeated strokes at them, hissing and 

 threatening constantly, even striking with the 

 butts of his half-lifted wings, a motion I never 

 before saw an owl make in self-defense, while 

 circling around him, darting over and at him, 

 each uttering the high, shrill alarm call of his 

 kind, flashed the black bodies of the crows and 

 blackbirds, the blue of jays, the brown and grey 

 of the sparrows, the steel of the kingbirds and wood 

 pewees, and the gold of the orioles and summer 

 yellow birds. At the time I left, so slow were the 

 movements of the owl and so imperfect seemed his 

 sight that he had not succeeded in pulling even a 

 feather from one of his tormentors. I never have 

 been able to rid myself of the feeling that the owl's 

 time as a fighter was almost over, on account of the 

 condition of his beak and feet and his plumage. 

 Of course I made allowance for the fact that the 



