IV. KOOKOOSKOOS, .WHO CATCHES 

 THE WRONG RAT. 



OOKOOSKOOS is the big brown 

 owl, the Bubo Virginianus, or 

 Great Horned Owl of the books. 

 But his Indian name is best. 

 Almost any night in autumn, 

 if you leave the town and go 

 out towards the big woods, you 

 can hear him calling it, Koo-koo- 

 skoos, koooo, kooo, down in the 

 swamp. 



Kookooskoos is always catch- 

 ing the wrong rat. The reason 

 is that he is a great hunter, and 

 thinks that every furry thing 

 which moves must be game ; and 

 so he is like the fool sportsman 

 who shoots at a sound, or a motion in the bushes, 

 before finding out what makes it. Sometimes the 

 rat turns out to be a skunk, or a weasel ; sometimes 

 your pet cat; and, once in a lifetime, it is your own fur 



59 



