Poor Kookooskoos ! they shot him next 

 night on his watchtower, and nailed him to 

 the camp door as a warning. 



Should you ever find Kookooskoos on his 

 watchtower, and observe him awhile patiently 

 in the twilight, you will see a curious bit of 

 woodcraft, and perhaps discover the object 

 of his uncanny hooting. Sometimes, if he 

 is a young owl, he hoots for practice, or to 

 learn how ; and then he makes an awful noise 

 of it, — a rasping screech, before his voice 

 deepens. And if you are camping near and 

 are new to the woods, the chances are that 

 you lie awake and shiver; for there is no 

 other sound like it in the wilderness. Some- 

 times, when you climb to his nest, he has 

 a terrifying hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, running 

 up and down a deep guttural scale, like a 

 fiendish laugh, accompanied by a vicious 

 snapping of the beak. And if you are a 

 small boy, and it is getting dark in the 

 woods, you climb down the tree quick and 

 let his nest alone. But the regular whooo- 

 hoo-hoo, whooo-hoo, always five notes, with the 

 second and third very short, is a hunting 



225 

 Tiookooskoos 



