AN OLD BARRED OWL 51 



some sleeping hen and carry her off to his little owlets 

 in their rude nest which had been used and abandoned by 

 a hawk the year before. Minks, foxes, coons, opossums 

 and skunks also knew the flavor of the flesh of the barn- 

 yard fowl. Why, then, unless one of these intruders was 

 actually caught in the act, should he always be given the 

 credit for the outrages committed on the barnyard? 



Among the enemies with which the farmer has to con- 

 tend are the rabbits. They get into his garden and eat the 

 vegetables, and gnaw the young fruit trees to a dangerous 

 degree. The barred owls doubtless had no conscious desire 

 to render a service to the owner of the fields over which 

 they hunted, but they did it nevertheless by the num- 

 ber of cotton-tails which they annually destroyed. It was 

 not safe for a rabbit to expose itself in the locality inhab- 

 ited by the owls. Many a luckless one venturing out of 

 cover into the fields never returned, save as borne aloft 

 through the air by his arch enemy; for, suddenly and 

 without warning, there would bear down upon him, silently 

 as a shadow, the big gray bird. Fearful pains would seize 

 his body as the long talons closed upon him; he would 

 catch the fierce glare of two groat brown eyes ; there would 

 be a brief struggle, and all would be over. 



The crawfish which had their holes in the damp ground 

 along the creek came out much at night and ran about, but 



