A DUCK HUNT 69 



the small birds that troop to mob him, find them- 

 selves caught by the bird-lime with which the bushes 

 have been plentifully smeared. 



But a worse and still more unworthy fate even 

 than this used to befall the brown owl among our 

 own forefathers. The belief, still prevalent in 

 country districts, that an owl perching on the 

 windows of a house or hooting near it, presages the 

 death of an inmate, marked him out for special 

 persecution at the time of family gatherings, and 

 the so-called " duck hunt " was a common accompani- 

 ment of Christmastide. It was on this wise. An 

 owl was lashed to the back of a duck, and duck and 

 rider were launched upon a pond. The brown owl 

 is not altogether a stranger to water, for, unlikely 

 as it seems, he has been frequently seen, as the 

 Java fishing owl habitually does, to pounce upon a 

 fish and carry it to his young. But he is well 

 frightened now. He digs his talons deep into the 

 duck, as Europa clung the faster to the neck of the 

 bull which carried her over the sea, when he plunged 

 on purpose, more deeply into it, to strengthen her hold. 

 The terrified duck dives. The more she dives, the 

 more he grips ; the more he grips, the more she dives. 

 A tame owl which has dipped itself in water, as he 

 loves to do, is a lamentable sight enough. His 



