Kookooskoos and the Wrong Rat. 71 



Placed around the edge of the big nest were a red 

 squirrel, a rat, a chicken, a few frogs' legs, and a rab- 

 bit. Fine fare that, at eighty feet from the ground. 

 Kookooskoos had had good hunting. All the game 

 was partly eaten, showing I had disturbed their din- 

 ner; and only the hinder parts were left, showing 

 that owls like the head and brains best. I left them 

 undisturbed and came away; for I wanted to watch 

 the young grow which they did marvelously, and 

 were presently learning to hoot. But I have been 

 less merciful to the great owls ever since, thinking 

 of the enormous destruction of game represented in 

 raising two or three such young savages, year after 

 year, in the same swamp. 



Once, at twilight, I shot a big owl that was sitting 

 on a limb facing me, with what appeared to be an 

 enormously long tail hanging below the limb. The 

 tail turned out to be a large mink, just killed, with a 

 beautiful skin that put five dollars into a boy's locker. 

 Another time I shot one that sailed over me; when 

 he came down> there was a ruffed grouse, still living, 

 in his claws. Another time I could not touch one 

 that I had killed for the overpowering odor which 

 was in his feathers, showing that Mephitis, the skunk, 

 never loses his head when attacked. But Kookoos- 

 koos, like the fox, cares little for such weapons, and 



