The Great Horned Owl 297 
convinced the boy that the Great Horned Owl is 
not lacking in good eyesight in the daytime. 
Everything progressed nicely with the owl family, 
but the boy desired very much to know the hunting 
methods of these powerful birds and how they located 
their quarry. In an open part of the swamp, not far 
from the nest, stood a solitary old stub, some eighty 
feet in height, and holding aloft, from its barkless and 
whitened trunk, a solitary branch. The position of 
this former monarch of the forest commanded a good 
view over the trout stream on the one side, and on 
the other, over a small pond which contained numer- 
ous forms of animal life. The boy was well ac- 
quainted with the old stub, knowing its possibilities 
both as a home and a watch tower for the feathered 
tribe. Within its walls the flicker. and the hairy 
woodpecker had drilled, and nested; here also in 
winter the screech owl found a shelter from the fierce 
storms that swept over the swamp; from its branch 
in summer the rattle of the belted kingfisher could be 
heard; and perched on the summit of the broken shaft 
the “hen hawk” would locate a mouse in the grass, 
or, perchance, a sleepy old frog at the water’s edge. 
The sun had already set at the close of a beau- 
tiful spring day, when the boy found himself a 
little distance above the old stub, on the trout 
