OUR HOME BIRDS. 
253 
though the travellers did not see him. The agree- 
able odor of the food roused him, and he came out 
to see if he might share the feast. 
“ ‘ These deep and boundless forests are the home 
he loves. His voice renders him an object of dread, 
there is something so unearthly about it/ ” 
“ Patrick says he doesn’t want to hear any owls 
hooting around here,” said Malcolm ; “ he says it’s a 
very bad sign.” 
“ A sign that the chickens are in danger perhaps,” 
replied Miss Harson, “ and certainly that the mice 
are ; but this, I think, is the worst. This owl preys 
on young rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice, partridges, 
and small birds of various kinds. It has been often 
known to prowl about the farm-house and carry off 
chickens from their roost. ‘ A very large one, wing- 
broken while on a foraging excursion of this kind, 
was kept about the house for several days, and at 
length disappeared, no one knew how. Almost every 
day after this hens and chickens also disappeared, one 
by one, in an unaccountable manner, till in eight or 
ten days very few were left remaining. The fox, the 
mink, and weasel were alternately the reputed au- 
thors of the mischief, until one morning the old lady 
herself, rising before day to bake, in passing toward 
the oven surprised her late prisoner, the owl, rega- 
ling himself on the body of a newly-killed hen. 
22 
