1894
Oct 2
(No 2)
Lake Umbagog, Maine.
Outlet Marshes


and it finally disappeared in the distance towards the
foot of the Lake.

  On the river bank a few rods below the Outlet we
found where something had caught a Barred Owl. There
were a good many of its feathers, chiefly from the back
and ribs, scattered about on the mud and a huge
stump some twenty yards away was literally plastered
all over with them which the ground beneath was also
thickly strewn. Beneath the stump I found all the
wing and tail feathers but nowhere could I detect any
bones, claws or fragments of the flesh of the poor bird.
It had evidently been seized on the ground (or
perhaps while flying over it) and taken to the stump
when it had been devoured. Much of the ground between
the stump & the bank was soft mud which bores
no tracks save those of Snipe and Muskrats. From this
both Will & I concluded that the murderer must have
been a bird and, doubtless, a Great Horned Owl.
[margin]Syrnium
nebulosum[/margin]

  The marshes were everywhere covered with the tracks &
droppings of Snipe. The birds which were there last
evening must have remained & fed well into the
night & left before daylight this morning.
[margin]Signs of
Snipe out
No Birds[/margin]

 A Coon rambled all over these marshes on the night
of September 30th having his tracks everywhere. We also
heard him that evening at about 9 o'clock. His cry was
somewhat like the hoot of a Barred Owl.
[margin]Raccoon
tracks[/margin]