120 FROM BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



which were near by. Usually in the deep woods 

 the first comer was a red-eyed vireo, chickadee, 

 hermit thrush, or oven-bird ; but whichever it 

 chanced to be, an alarm was almost sure to be 

 given that would bring birds from all directions 

 eager to see the cause of disturbance. Even when 

 I was imperfectly concealed, the irritated crowd 

 paid little attention to me, provided I kept rea- 

 sonably quiet. Sometimes I would leave the owl 

 in comparatively open ground on a boulder in a 

 pasture, or a stump in a meadow. Then his fa- 

 vorite position was with his head tipped directly 

 backward and his eyes, half closed, fixed either 

 on the sun or a spot not ten degrees from it. I 

 never could fully understand this attitude, but I 

 soon found that the owl was keenly alive to any- 

 thing passing skyward, for if a hawk or crow 

 came into view far away in the deep blue, Puffy's 

 gaze was instantly turned full upon the growing 

 speck, the eyelids partly closed and a most intent 

 look coming into his eyes. Again and again 

 Puffy has seen hawks or gulls overhead which 

 my eyes, although unusually far-sighted, have at 

 first been unable to discern. On one eventful 

 day he showed me 334 hawks sailing southwest 

 under the pressure of a stiff northeast gale. It 

 was September 10, one of the later of the days 

 when the fires were raging among the forests 

 along the St. John River. The hawks were 



