72 Wilderness Ways. 



in the spring, when game is scarce, swoops for and 

 kills a skunk wherever he finds him prowling away 

 from his den in the twilight. 



The most savage bit of his hunting that I ever saw 

 was one dark winter afternoon, on the edge of some 

 thick woods. I was watching a cat, a half-wild crea- 

 ture, that was watching a red squirrel making a great 

 fuss over some nuts which he had hidden, and which 

 he claimed somebody had stolen. Somewhere behind 

 us, Kookooskoos was watching from a pine tree. 

 The squirrel was chattering in the midst of a whirl- 

 wind of leaves and empty shells which he had thrown 

 out on the snow from under the wall ; behind him the 

 cat, creeping nearer and nearer, had crouched with 

 blazing eyes and quivering muscles, her whole atten- 

 tion fixed on the spring, when broad wings shot 

 silently over my hiding place and fell like a shadow 

 on the cat. One set of strong claws gripped her 

 behind the ears ; the others were fastened like a vise 

 in the spine. Generally one such grip is enough; 

 but the cat was strong, and at the first touch sprang 

 away. In a moment the owl was after her, floating, 

 hovering above, till the right moment came, when he 

 dropped and struck again. Then the cat whirled and 

 fought like a fury. For a few moments there was a 

 desperate battle, fur and feathers flying, the cat 



