THE MUSEUM. 



151 



birds and animals of all kinds. I 

 found that Mr. Shem Noah is at the 

 lead of the ornithological department, 

 and to him I applied for admission. I 

 only saw his clerk, however, who told 

 me that they were taking the birds ac- 

 cording to the A. O. U. check list, and 

 they would not want me for a couple 

 of days, as they were at present busy 

 with the Loons and Grebe. Though I 

 was the first Horned Owl there, as I 

 said before, there are thousands of 

 other species. The place was covered 

 with them. They settled on the roof 

 of the Ark in such numbers, as to 

 threaten to break it in, and Prof. Noah 

 himself, had to come out to order them 

 off, before they would go. Even then 

 some spoke back rather sharply to 

 him; but had a very strong and con- 

 vincing argument in his favor, which 

 prevailed in the end, viz: — a double- 

 barreled ten gauge breech loader. 



After all, in spite of crowding and 

 the noise and the heat, it is very pleas- 

 ant here. I believe I fed better today 

 than I ever did before. One has to 

 -go carefully though, for the professor 

 has prohibited any indiscriminate 

 slaughter. But he can't have his eye 

 on us all the time, and Oh! those Or- 

 tolans and little Egyptian Quail are 

 good. 



Abib 1 1. 



What a noise! I can hardly hear 

 myself think. Poor Shem has his 

 work cut out for him. Only seven of 

 a species can be admitted, and every 

 kind is represented by a score at least 

 of excited individuals — each one de- 

 manding to be admitted. He checks 

 off the last lot as it goes aboard and 

 calls up the next, and in a minute there 

 is a rush and a llight to see who will 

 get there soonest. I was the first of 

 my species, but today there are a lot 

 more just arrived, but I suppose I am 

 safe, I got here first; still I can hardly 

 help worrying a little. 



Abib 12. 

 Who-o — who-o-o — who-o. Who 



said Owls were stupid birds.' I am an 



Owl, and a living proof of the falsity of 

 the statement. A stupid bird could 

 not of gotten ahead of Mr. Shem in 

 the way I did. Did you see me.' 

 am right in it — in the Ark I mean. 



The Owls were reached at last this 

 morning, and I tried toget in line, but 

 found nine or ten ahead of me. I told 

 them I was first on the ground and I 

 should have first place. The first six 

 were willing enough, but those behind 

 utterly refused. I was horrified. 

 Force was out of the question, so I 

 argued and begged and stormed, but 

 to no avail. No, seven in the line 

 hooted at me. If he hadn't been so 

 big I should of made him sorry for it. 

 I was half crazy over my dilemma, when 

 I observed a flour barrel that the care- 

 less commissary department, under Mr. 

 Ham had dropped and burst, a bril- 

 liant idea struck me. I flew over and 

 rolled in the spilt flour, and came back 

 and presented myself to the clerk, just 

 as my unnatural brethren were going 

 up the gang plank. The clerk said: 



"We have enough of your kind, 

 there are several on board now." 



I effected great astonishment at this, 

 and said: 



"Don't you "recognize" me, I am 

 not the ordinary Horned Owl, I am 

 the Artie Horned Owl — a new species." 



The clerk was puzzled and hummed 

 and hawed, but I was firm, so he call- 

 ed Mr. Shem over and stated the case 

 to him. Then they got out a tape 

 line and Coue's Key, and called a 

 meeting of the A. O. U. As sure as 

 the latter was done, I was confident 

 of my case, and sure enough, I was 

 admitted; together with six more of 

 my friends, who had followed my ex- 

 ample. Well, we got in any way, 

 and that was all we cared about. In 

 fact, all the Horned Owls did also by 

 various devices. Some rolled in a 

 coal bin, and the rest used the same 

 flour I did, but shook themselves a 

 couple of times after it. That's how 

 I fooled them. They are dead easy. 



It is awful crowded inside here. We 

 Owls are all together in a little bit of 



