SATAN THE RACCOON 



screech-owl (Scops a$io). It is true, doubtless, 

 that people that do not know both cries may 

 make such a mistake. 



The little owls appear to resent my intru- 

 sion on their vested rights, so from early 

 spring to late fall they haunt my sleeping- 

 quarters, and divide their time between snap- 

 ping their beaks and uttering their monoto- 

 nous notes. As I sleep in the open air nine 

 months out of the twelve, I have a good chance 

 to study both cries, and could not mistake one 

 for the other. 



The coon is a ventriloquist. His cry seems 

 to come down from the sky. A friend came 

 in from the city one night to hear the coon 

 cry. It was a moonlight night, and the coon 

 was staked out in the dooryard. My friend 

 was not looking when the first cry was uttered, 

 but claimed that the sound came from the trees 

 overhead. Afterward he saw the coon in the 

 act, and could not make a mistake. 



When Satan uttered the cry, he was always 

 sitting on his haunches. He would throw his 

 head up until his nose pointed skyward, then 

 35 



