136 BIRD PARADISE 



liking. The trees are all gone and most of the 

 owls also. I occasionally see the small screech- 

 owl, bnt rarely any other. As a boy I well re- 

 member hearing the calls of the larger owls in 

 the great ravine of Bird Paradise. They often 

 gave them in the daytime and we sometimes saw 

 the staid fellows in the great openings of the trees. 

 At one time a family of owls dwelt in the old farm 

 wood, that indulged in unusual hoots and calls. 

 Occasionally they would give a sound like the 

 tolling of a bell, especially solemn on the evening 

 of a calm summer day. I half fancied that the 

 fellows were holding some sort of service, and 

 that the beU sounding was a call to the gathering. 

 Another fancy of mine was that the great horned 

 owl was a sort of father and all around adviser 

 among the birds of the wood. A slight increase 

 of knowledge, however, dissipated all such crude 

 ideas and left the owl barren of any particularly 

 ornamental or useful traits of character. One 

 thing, however, the owls made most familiar : 

 they were lovers of the dark, and we were early 

 taught that with such belonged the deeds that are 

 evil. 



The halcyon days for the minute insects are 

 mostly measured in the fall of the year. The 



