148 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



a full grown coon. His sensitive nose told him that a 

 great horned owl lived in this hollow tree, hut to him it 

 would have been the height of presumption to investigate 

 her home. 



The hoy had a hahit of wandering up and down the river 

 in search of whatever story he might discover. About a 

 week after the catching of the father owl he happened by 

 the nest. By this time the babies inside were growing rap- 

 idly, and already the fluffy fuzz was beginning to give 

 place to pin-feathers. They no longer needed careful 

 brooding, and often the mother elected to roost in the 

 clump of swamp willows a hundred feet from the nest. 

 Here she felt more secure both because she could more 

 easily get away if danger came and because if she had to 

 flee from these willows she would not Betray the location 

 of the precious nest. 



The boy happened to stumble into this clump of willows. 

 The sun was bright and its reflection from the snow 

 that had fallen the night before made such a dazzling 

 light that when the owl awakened she merely straightened 

 up, blinked her eyes, raised her horns to their greatest 

 height, and began looking around to locate the intruder. 



The boy knew that in spite of the fact that great horned 

 owls were believed to be plentiful because of the large num- 

 bers of poultry they carried away, in all probability there 

 were no more than one pair in the neighborhood. Looking 

 about for the mate to this owl, his eye fell on the hollow 

 tree. At nesting time owls seldom sleep far from home, 

 and the boy expected not only to find another owl nearby 

 but hoped to locate the nest. Great horned owls usually 

 build a giant stick nest two and a half or three feet in 

 diameter on a spreading limb not far from the trunk of 



