300 The Great Horned Owl 
the swamp. For years the owls nested there, obtain- 
ing their food from the wild life about them, but 
sometimes feasting upon a chicken or young turkey 
from the surrounding farms. 
During these years, whenever an opportunity pre- 
sented itself, the boy studied the animals about him. 
He tramped and trapped as the seasons changed, 
never seeming to grow weary of his chosen pastime; 
and although he did not know it, he was changing, 
the savage within him giving place to the humane. 
He passed through the usual stages of trap and gun, 
made various collections of nests, eggs, and mounted 
specimens, but finally dropped all for the one harm- 
less instrument—the camera. 
After years of work and dozens of negatives had 
been made of wild birds and mammals in their native 
haunts, he still had none of the Great Horned Owl. 
This was due to the nocturnal habits of the bird and 
to its natural shyness. You may tramp the woods 
for many a day and not even see a Great Horned Owl, 
much less produce a photograph of one. But patience 
is usually rewarded, and that sometimes in a most 
unexpected way. 
The Great Horned Owl, when it once forms the 
habit of visiting a certain farm building for the pur- 
pose of carrying off poultry, becomes very bold and 
