A YOUNG NATURALIST. 83 



Having cut off the serpent's head, we all went off to recon- 

 noitre. Going in pursuit of a troop of squirrels, we were led to 

 the edge of the glade without having been able to reach them. 

 A little way in the forest, Sumichrast espied a small russet- 

 coloured owl, which suddenly disappeared in a hoUow at the foot 

 of an old tree. We all kept quiet for ten minutes, in order to 

 observe the bird's way of hunting. At last, it suddenly reap- 

 peared, and standing motionless and upright upon its legs at the 

 entrance of its place of refuge, it looked very like a sentinel on 

 duty in his watch-box. Suddenly it started, and slightly bend- 

 ing its body, winked its great yellow eyes several times ; then, 

 skimniing over the ground with the swiftness of an arrow, it 

 darted into the high grass. It soon made its appearance 

 again, with its feathers erect and flapping its wings. It held 

 in his mouth a poor little mouse, which it carried off into its 

 subterraneous retreat. It was the species of owl called Athene 

 Eypogcea, which is often met with in the savannahs and hunts, 

 in the daytime as well as in the night. 



" What a comical-looking bird," said Lucien ; " and yet I 'm 

 half afraid of its brilliant eyes and hooked nose." 



" Every one is frightened at him, Ohauito," replied I'Encuerado ; 

 " and when he settles near a hut at night, and raises his dismal 

 cry, he predicts the early death of some one of those who hear 

 him." 



"That can't be," replied Lucien, "for there was an owl in 

 a hole in our garden wall, and papa would never have it dis- 

 turbed ; yet the owl made its cry every night." 



" Your father knows how to avert the spell. Besides, the 

 bird that lived in the wall was a common owl." 



" Both in Europe and America," interposed Sumichrast, 

 " screech owls, and their kinsmen, the common owls, barn owls, 

 buzzards, and all nocturnal birds of prey, are looked upon by the 

 ignorant as birds of ill omen. Their strange appearance, and 

 their mysterious habits, give rise to a repugnance which often 

 changes into fear. It is quite wrong to have any dread of them ; 

 as a matter of fact, the bird you have just seen is, like all his 

 species, more useful than injurious to man, for it destroys a vast 



