THE SCREECH OF THE PANTHER. 245 



Glancing up in the direction from whence that terrible scream 

 came, I could plainly see the outline of a screech owl. 



On another occasion I had started about midnight from home 

 to go to my hunting camp. About five miles of the distance was 

 along a road with heavy timber on each side. The night was 

 warm for the time of the year, with a slight mist of rain. I was 

 hustling along the best I could to reach camp by the time it was 

 daylight. I had my rifle and a pack-sack with a grub stake to 

 last for a week, on my back. When again, with great suddenness 

 that terrible screech of the panther sounded in the trees over my 

 head. The screech was so sudden and so sharp that I came near 

 dropping right through to China. After recovering my breath and 

 gazing into the timber for a moment, I again discovered one of 

 those frightful owls. 



Every close observer, who has put in a great deal of time in 

 the woods in the night, away from a fire and noise, knows that 

 an owl will alight within a few feet of them, and they will not be 

 aware of the presence of the owl when it approaches them. This 

 noiseless movement of the owl is said to be from the large amount 

 of down that grows on the wings of the bird. 



As I stated, I have camped in several states west of the Rockies, 

 and have from childhood until late years almost continually been 

 in the woods, and the only screech of the panther I ever heard 

 came from the owl. 



My father moved from Washington County, York State, into 

 this county about a hundred years ago, when northern Pennsyl- 

 vania was an unbroken wilderness, and the few settlers who lived 

 in these parts were compelled to go sixty miles to Jersey Shore 

 to mill. This trip was made down Pine Creek, and usually with 

 an ox team, and those who made the trip were obliged to camp 

 out every night while making the trip for there were no settlers 

 living along the whole route. The road was merely a trail cut 

 through the woods. 



Father often made this trip down Pine Creek to Jersey Shore, 

 camping out each night. I have often heard him say that he 

 never head any kind of a noise that he thought came from a 

 panther and panthers were plentiful in this section in those days. 



