Kookooskoos and the Wrong Rat. 69 



and feathers shiver with fright. A rabbit stirs in his 

 form ; a partridge shakes on his branch ; the mink 

 stops hunting frogs at the brook; the skunk takes his 

 nose out of the hole where he is eating sarsaparilla 

 roots. A leaf stirs, a toe scrapes, and instantly Koo- 

 kooskoos is there. His fierce eyes glare in ; his great 

 claws drop ; one grip, and it 's all over. For the very 

 sight of him scares the little creatures so, that there is 

 no life left in them to cry out or to run away. 



A nest which I found a few years ago shows how 

 well this kind of hunting succeeds. It was in a 

 gloomy evergreen swamp, in a big tree, some eighty 

 feet from the ground. I found it by a pile of pellets 

 of hair and feathers at the foot of the tree; for the 

 owl devours every part of his game, and after diges- 

 tion is complete, feathers, bones, and hair are dis- 

 gorged in small balls, like so many sparrow heads. 

 When I looked up, there at the top was a huge mass 

 of sticks, which had been added to year after year till 

 it was nearly three feet across, and half as thick. 

 Kookooskoos was not there. He had heard me 

 coming and slipped away silently. 



Wishing to be sure the nest was occupied before 

 trying the hard climb, I went away as far as I could 

 see the nest and hid in a thicket. Presently a very 

 large owl came back and stood by the nest. Soon 



