80 OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS. 
Next morning we were under the trees in the garden, 
when all the birds in another part of the yard com- 
menced such a clatter that we ran to find out the cause. 
It was a funny sight and a droll sound. ‘There were 
the mocking-birds, and the sparrows, and the linnets, 
and the finches, and the bush-tits, and, last and least, 
the tiny humming-birds, each and all screaming at the 
top of their voices and hopping about in a certain tree. 
We knew in a moment there must be an enemy there, 
and began to search for him. The birds were not 
afraid, but flew toward us, looking us in the face, while 
they screamed louder than before. By this we knew 
that we must be very near the enemy. 
It did not take much hunting to find the cause of 
the uproar. Ona low branch of the tree sat a screech 
owl,! blinking away sleepily. He was not at all embar- 
rassed by so many callers, nor frightened by their noise. 
One of us reached up behind the bird and took hold 
of him around the legs and tail, grabbing him firmly, 
so that he could not bite or get away. Then we brought 
an unused robin’s cage and put the owl in it. He 
began to spit at us, as a cat does when it is angry or 
frightened, and this excited the birds all the more. 
They followed us while we took the cage to the back 
door-steps, and then they took their places on the 
clothes-line and the pump and the bushes near by, 
chirping and scolding in a bustling way that was quite 
laughable. 
1 Meyascops asio bendiret. 
