THE FUNNY LITTLE OWL. Yl 



not seize it angrily, as I supposed lie would do. 

 At lengtli I caught him around the back and 

 wings with my hand. He did not offer to bite 

 or scratch, but gave himself up at once, as if 

 admitting that he was in my power, and might 

 as well not struggle. As I gazed into his face 

 and half-closed eyes he looked very human, and 

 I could not help talking to him as if he were 

 a real human being. 



I bore him off some distance and placed 

 him on the top of a pile of cord wood, and then 

 went back to see what the old bird was doing. 

 Two robins, an oriole, and an indigo bird were 

 flitting and chirping about her, but none of 

 them had the courage to make a direct attack. 

 They chattered and scolded and blustered, but 

 still they were cowards at heart, and the owl 

 did not mind their hurly-burly. 



Many people rail at the blue jay because he 

 robs birds' nests ; but he is of some use, after 

 all, as I learned on that day. In the midst of 

 the hubbub a jay came ambling upon the scene, 

 swinging lightly from tree to tree and branch 

 to branch, and moving directly toward the owl. 

 He never paused nor hesitated for a moment. 

 The owl spied him when he came near, and bent 

 clear back on her perch to dodge him, although 

 she had paid no heed at all to the other birds. 



