The Great Horned Owl 297 



convinced the boy that the Great Horned Owl is 

 not lacking in good eyesight in the daytime. 



Everything progressed nicely with the owl family, 

 but the boy desired very much to know the hunting 

 methods of these powerful birds and how they located 

 their quarry. In an open part of the swamp, not far 

 from the nest, stood a solitary old stub, some eighty 

 feet in height, and holding aloft, from its barkless and 

 whitened trunk, a solitary branch. The position of 

 this former monarch of the forest commanded a good 

 view over the trout stream on the one side, and on 

 the other, over a small pond which contained numer- 

 ous forms of animal life. The boy was well ac- 

 quainted with the old stub, knowing its possibilities 

 both as a home and a watch tower for the feathered 

 tribe. Within its walls the flicker and the hairy 

 woodpecker had drilled, and nested; here also in 

 winter the screech owl found a shelter from the fierce 

 storms that swept over the swamp; from its branch 

 in summer the rattle of the belted kingfisher could be 

 heard; and perched on the summit of the broken shaft 

 the "hen hawk" would locate a mouse in the grass, 

 or, perchance, a sleepy old frog at the water's edge. 



The sun had already set at the close of a beau- 

 tiful spring day, when the boy found himself a 

 little distance above the old stub, on the trout 



