190 FROM BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



tance was shown in several ways. When I came 

 slowly from my hiding-place he saw me at once, 

 and started jumping down the hill away from me. 

 On another occasion I took him out in a pouring 

 rain, thinking that he would go to the woods for 

 shelter. He was content with standing under a 

 small apple-tree which gave him practically no 

 protection, a fact which he discovered and sought 

 to remedy by running to another tree of the 

 same kind. Inactive, unable or unwilling to kill 

 mice or squirrels, even when most hungry, silent, 

 vacant in expression, cowardly, apparently stu- 

 pid, the snowy owl, judged by my one captive, 

 is a dull and uninteresting member of an unusu- 

 ally acute family. I doubt Snowdon's being a 

 fair type of his species. 



The barred owls are the particular abomina- 

 tion of other New England birds. They are cour- 

 ageous, keen of vision by day and in the twilight, 

 strong, alert, quick, yet crafty. Their voracity 

 makes them the terror of every nesting mother, 

 the scourge alike of the forest, the field, and the 

 meadow. Of their merits as decoys there can be 

 no doubt. If taken while young and clipped, 

 they are readily tamed and taught to obey sim- 

 ple orders. Mine have been invaluable to me in 

 studying the birds of New Hampshire. When 

 going for a walk, I take one or both of the older 

 ones. Entering their cage, I extend a short stick 



