466 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



but really, it would be necessary to have a moving 

 picture to convey a proper idea of its comical and 

 absurd antics; and the noise it could make was as- 

 tonishing. It would open its mouth and go 

 "shish" so loudly that it would sound like escaping 

 steam, then it would bow its head down until the 

 top of its cranium touched the ground. All the time 

 the puffy ball of yellowish down would be walking 

 towards me. When it reached my feet it would 

 commence 



CLIMBING UP MY TROUSERS LEG, 



still bobbing its head and emitting a steam-like 

 noise. I suspect that the young barn-owls are the 

 origin of all the ancient stories about haunted bel- 

 frys, castle turrets and church steeples, and that 

 they are what Poe referred to when he exclaimed: 



"And the people, ah, the people ; 



They that dwell up in the steeple." 

 For as the poet declares : 



"They are neither man nor woman; 

 They are neither brute nor human" 

 They are owls! 



But since the windows have been glazed in the 

 Congregational steeple, the barn-owl has left for 

 some more hospitable home. I counted 



SIX LONG-EARED OWLS 



last winter, however, roosting in one fir tree within 

 a block and a half of my studio, and I know this 



