306 THE GREAT HORNED OWL 



and tried to loosen its hold, but finding this very 

 painful, he entered the camp, and stooping near 

 the fire, with the aid of his son he put the owl in 

 the flames, which soon loosened its hold and 

 burned the bird to ashes. Ever afterwards, 

 when this old chap went out of his camp at night, 

 he used to put an old Hudson Bay Company's 

 copper kettle over his head ! 



Of the two cases referred to as attacking 

 human beings, one happened at our neighbour's 

 at Trinity Bay, and I saw the bird and the place 

 where it was killed. Mr. P. Bilodeau was out 

 chopping dry wood in a burned-over patch of 

 spruce near his house. It was about December, 

 and the day was cloudy and dark. While engag- 

 ed in collecting the cut pieces, he noticed a large 

 horned owl perched on a dry tree about twenty 

 feet from him. He had not seen or heard it com- 

 ing. Cutting a piece from the branch, he threw 

 it at the bird, not with any intention of killing 

 it, but for the fun of seeing it fly away. Very 

 much to his surprise the bird did not move. A 

 second stick followed, and then a third one, with 

 the same result, the bird simply watching the 

 sticks as they went by him. 



The old fellow was illiterate, and crammed full 

 of superstitious beliefs of loup garou and chasse 

 galeries, and concluded that one of these wan- 

 dering spirits was there under the form of an 

 owl. He devoutly crossed himself, and picking 



