92 
THE OWL. 
staring eyes, half concealed in some thick bush 
of leaves and branches, than he sets up a cry- 
that seem^ to say, " The owl ! the owl ! come 
and torment him 1 The other birds under- 
stand the cry in a moment ; and off they fly, 
coming from all directions, and raising such a 
shout, you might hear them half a mile dis- 
tant. 
They have many old grudges to pay the 
owl ; and this is the only safe time for doing 
it. 
So they surround him, and behave just 
like a mob ; screaming, and chattering, and 
fluttering their wings in his face, and even 
pecking at him, with the utmost fury. The 
owl can only see very indistinctly, and is 
taken by surprise. He does not attempt, at 
first, either to move or to defend himself. He 
stares and goggles with his great eyes, until 
the tumult gets past his powers of endurance ; 
then he takes to flight ; the mob following 
close at his heels, until they have driven him 
quite out of their dominions. 
The blue jay, though foremost in the riot, 
bears no very respectable character himself 
He is often seen doing exactly the same deeds 
