KINGFISHER 45 



Horned Owl who cries "Whoo, whoo, who — who 

 — w ] 10 — aw " across the frosty hush of winter 

 nights, or as schoolboys translate it, "Who — 

 cooks — for you — all, for you — all?" 



It is not quite true that Owls cannot see in 

 daytime. The Great Horned Owl and some other 

 species, when they have young to feed, come out 

 and hunt on dark, cloudy days. It is chiefly these 

 birds whom we have to thank that the meadow- 

 mice, which multiply very rapidly, do not become 

 so numerous as to destroy all our grain in the 

 stack, and our young fruit trees. 



KINGFISHEE 



He sits on a dead branch above a pond, creek, 

 or river, noticing neither bird nor insect, but 

 watching, watching silently for a glint of silver- 

 sides in the water below. Suddenly down he 

 darts, like the head of a spear ; there is a splash, 

 and a second later up he comes with his dinner. 



The ancients called him halcyon, and hung his 

 dried body to the boat's mast when they cruised 

 about the Mediterranean, because he was sup- 

 posed to bring calm and pleasant weather. We 

 still retain an echo of this lost belief in the 

 phrase "halcyon days." 



He is always a pleasant picture in his blue- 

 gray speckled coat, with prominent crest and 

 belt, sitting just above the green rushes, reeds, 



