140
Concord, Mass.
1898
June 21
(No. 5)
 On June 14th Gilbert, by my orders, liberated the
young Owl in Prescott's pines which are within about
five hundred yards of the place where it was born.
It was unable to fly and was left sitting on the
ground under the trees near the wood road at ten
foot of the hill. During the remainder of the
week Gilbert visited and fed the bird daily. It
shifted its position several times and finally crossed
the road [delete]by[/delete] but no one of those journeys was more than
a few rods in length and this bird was always found
either on the ground or on a stump or log.
 I directed my steps towards Prescott's pines this
evening for the express purpose of looking up the
young Owl and as I approached the place I saw
something yellowish which I took to be the bird but which
found to be a sheet of brown paper. A moment later
I heard some Jays screaming excitedly on the hillside
about sixty yards off. Walking quietly along the path
I came nearly under them and scrutinizing closely the
trees around me I at length made out the form of a 
Great Horned Owl perched on the topmost sprag of a
green and vigorous young pine, sitting erect and motionless,
gazing off over the woods towards the west as if
absorbed in watching the sunset. Against the strongly
lighted background of sky his figure stood in bold
relief. He was a small but fully adult male bird and
no doubt the father of the two young which were reared
this spring in Lawrence's woods. His coloring was very
light and grayish, his "horns" unusually long and
prominent. He had probably found and was caring for
the young bird which Gilbert had kept at the foot of the hill.