The Wilderness 



now and then as he moved I could see his big eyes shining 

 brightly in the moonlight. 



Then there are owls three or four sorts of them which drift in 

 absolute silence from place to place. On moonlit nights a sudden 

 shadow floats on the ground before you, and if you look up quickly 

 enough you will see a white form settling silently on a branch or post. 

 If you keep very still and watch patiently you may see him dart down 

 to catch some flying insect, or make a sudden swoop at a mouse in the 

 grass below. How they see their prey is always one of the wonders of 

 nature to me, but apparently they never miss. I like the names of my 

 owls the delicate owl, the masked owl and the Boobook owl the 

 last so named from his familiar double note " Boo-book." 



The old mopoke, who for many years got the credit for the boo- 

 book owl's note, lives in the wilderness, too. Like most of the nocturnal 

 creatures, he likes the tall redgum which stands beside my gate, and 

 he sits there for an hour at a time constantly uttering his soft mysterious 

 note, " Oom, oom, oom." Sometimes he comes closer, on to the fence, 

 or even on to the verandah post itself. In the daytime he sits silently 

 for ages in what must be a most uncomfortable position, pretending to 

 be a branch of the tree, but at night he gives himself away by his " Oom, 

 oom, oom," for even the dullest human knows that trees don't say 

 "Oom, oom, oom." Still, he is clever at catching his food, and the 

 nocturnal insects find him as formidable as the owls. 



Whenever we have a few days rain the little creek in the wilderness 

 fills up, and then the frogs make high holiday. Most people will tell 

 you that a frog croaks, and leave it at that. But, as a matter of fact, 

 in proportion to their numbers, there is as great a variety in frog songs 



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