292 The Great Horned Owl 
to believe the birds were nesting there, and he fully 
determined to make a search at his earliest oppor- 
tunity. 
This opportunity came sooner than he expected, 
for the next morning it had turned cold and a light 
snow had fallen. As there would be no sap to gather, 
the boy was given a holiday after his usual morning 
duties were done, and he immediately set out for the 
swamp, hoping before night to locate the nest. It 
might seem an easy task to find such a large nest, 
but the swamp contained several acres, and in many 
places the evergreens were so thick as almost to ex- 
clude the sunlight. 
The day was spent in a fruitless search, which 
perplexed the boy, who had often located the nest 
of the bobolink and the meadow lark, nests that are 
not by any means easily found. However, as the 
search had been systematic and the whole ground 
had not yet been covered, he still hoped to find it 
before the eggs had hatched, for he wished to become 
familiar with the nest and eggs, as well as with the 
young and old birds. 
The second day’s search ended about noon in 
rather an interesting manner. The boy stopped for 
lunch under a hemlock that he knew well, for the 
spring before a pair of crows had had a nest in 
