WAYS OF THE OWL. 189 



wholly unacquainted. Thrushes of various kinds, 

 warblers, vireos, swallows, and sparrows treated 

 him precisely as though he had been a barred 

 owl. Once a grouse, with a family of chicks, 

 confronted him boldly for a moment, while her 

 brood scattered to cover. His conduct while at 

 liberty was somewhat peculiar. He shunned the 

 woods, and if taken into them, quickly made his 

 way out. His left wing being clipped, his only 

 method of advance was by clumsy leaps, or by a 

 queer wobbling run, aided by outstretched wings. 

 Whenever I placed him upon the ground, he 

 would hurry away to a distance, and stop to 

 pant with his wings dragging wearily at his sides. 

 One warm morning I left him on an open pasture 

 hillside, and walked away to a belt of woods 

 nearly an eighth of a mile from him. Conceal- 

 ing myself in the bushes, I watched him closely 

 through my glass for an hour and a half. The 

 time was nearly a blank. The owl, satisfied that 

 I had gone, walked toward me about a rod and 

 sought the shady side of a small patch of juniper. 

 There he remained almost motionless for the 

 entire period. Sometimes he turned his head and 

 watched crows at a distance. Once or twice he 

 glanced at the sky, and in one instance he fol- 

 lowed with his eyes the flight of a small bird. 

 Looking toward the sun did not seem to affect 

 his vision. That he could see things at a dis- 



