468 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



on the head-board of the bed in my big 

 brother's room. I do not know when this 

 was nor how long ago it happened, but I recol- 

 lect it as distinctly as if it were yesterday. The owl 

 sat there blinking and from its mouth protruded 

 the tail of a mouse; it was the tail of a live mouse 

 which had been swallowed whole by the owl; this 

 T knew because the tail was moving as I looked 

 at it. Since that time I have owned a number of. 

 owls, big and little. 



ONE GREAT HORNED OWL 



which occupied a parrot's perch in our back-yard in 

 Kentucky, was a very fierce creature, although it 

 never harmed its own master. One day my aunt 

 was walking near the owl perch when she saw a 

 flower which struck her fancy. She stopped to pluck 

 it and was knocked almost unconscious by a blow 

 from the owl's wing. 



The reader must understand that the owl saw the 

 lady but indistinctly and when she stooped, it mis- 

 took the movement as one meaning battle; always 

 being ready for an occurrence of this kind the owl 

 struck the astonished lady over the eye with its 

 wing, and my dear aunt nursed a black eye for a 

 week or more thereafter. 



One day the owl was loose, moping around the 

 yard and some bad boys saw it and resolved to 

 steal the bird ; they did not know the nature of the 



