128 FROM BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



plained softly at his presence. When all was 

 still, I hooted, and soon an owl replied from 

 the farther shore of the lake. Continuing to 

 call, I had the satisfaction of seeing my bird fly 

 close over Puffy's head and alight within easy 

 range, another owl at the same time beginning 

 to hoot close by. I shot one and was satisfied. 

 Puffy and Fluffy always show great excitement 

 when wild owls hoot at night, and occasionally 

 Fluffy replies. 



The only other owl which I have seen thus 

 far in the Chocorua region is the Acadian. On 

 July 18, about six p. M., listening to four great- 

 crested flycatchers signaling each other in a 

 wooded pasture, I noted an unusual commotion 

 among robins, hermits, and vireos in a bunch 

 of alders not far away. Creeping in, with Puffy 

 held before me, I saw the scolds surrounding a 

 buff-waistcoated young Acadian perched about 

 five feet from the ground on an alder. He saw 

 Puffy, and Puffy looked at him with interest and 

 attention. The agony in the little bird's yellow 

 eyes was pitiful. He gazed long, and then, turn- 

 ing his head slowly away, sailed noiselessly out 

 of sight, followed by the gossips. 



There are several of the Chocorua birds which 

 I have not named in connection with the owl. 

 The bluebirds seemed grieved to think anything 

 so wicked could exist. They perched near him 



