3 i6 WILD WINGS 



The time came when, becoming more skilled in the hand- 

 ling of the camera, I determined, if it were possible, to photo- 

 graph the wary owl on or by her nest, and attain the crown- 

 ing triumph of camera-hunting, in the mastering of difficulties 

 almost insuperable. The first thing was to find a nest, but 

 it seemed that I must suffer defeat at this initial stage. After 

 many long, hard tramps I found one, about the middle of April. 

 It was in a lofty fork of a very tall chestnut tree, as usual, an 

 old nest of the Red-tail, which had nearly all crumbled away, 

 leaving only a very precarious perch for the one owlet of con- 

 siderable size and its most wary mother. The latter was so 

 exceedingly shy that it was only with the greatest difficulty 

 that I could come even within sight of the nest before she 

 flew. Nor would she return as long as I remained anywhere 

 in the vicinity. The case was absolutely hopeless. 



It took four years' tramping to find another nest of the 

 Great Horned Owl. Then, on the ninth of March, a rainy day, 

 I started to explore a large wild timber-tract on the sides 

 and top of a mountain in western Connecticut where owls 

 had been heard to hoot. Year after year I had climbed and 

 tramped this mountain in vain, so that I had no especial hope 

 of success. About halfway up, growing at the foot of a rather 

 steep ledge, was a massive rock oak, in a fork of which, about 

 sixty feet up, had been for years a large hawks' nest, which 

 I always examined. The season before, a pair of Red-tails 

 had occupied it. I visited it this time, on the way, as a matter 

 of course. 



As I caught sight of the nest through the trees, my heart 

 gave an exultant bound. It had evidently been rebuilt, and 

 two knobs projected from it, outlined against the sky. They 

 were the ear-tufts of a Great Horned Owl ! I was at least 

 two gunshots from the nest, but the big owl saw me, and 

 stood up, ready to fly. To photograph in the rain, was, of 



