GKEAT HORNED OWL. 



BTJBO VIEGINIAinJS. 



" \ X 7 HO ever heard an owl sing ? is asked in de- 

 V V rision," says a delightful writer on natural 

 subjects ; and he himself seems almost willing to acknow- 

 ledge that the owl does not sing, and even to doubt his 

 hoot. However it may be elsewhere, up here among the 

 Green Mountains owls hoot, and hoot well, with deep, 

 strong voices that may be heard distinctly, of a calm 

 evening, for a mile or more. 



One winter, after six weeks of cold, perhaps the 

 severest in fifteen years, the weather moderated, and 

 the 3d of March was comparatively a mild day. An owl 

 felt the change, and in his gladness sent down ponderous 

 vesper notes from the mountain, which, as they came 

 booming across the valley, bore joy to all that heard 

 them. 



The owl did not change the weather; the weather 

 changed the owl. After all that has been said for and 

 against the ability of inferior creatures to foretell changes 

 of weather, the sum of our knowledge amounts to about 

 this : the senses of these beings are keener than our own, 

 enabling them to feel the changes sooner than we can, 

 and consequently to get a little before us with their 



