Jan., l'»ll 
A HISTORY ()!<' CI^RT.MX ORlvAT IIORXIH) OWLS 
17 
hel]ier thi.s time, literally stood Ruard oz'cr me as, with camera close to the ground, 
I stooped under the focusing cloth. lixcept for his full-voiced yells and well- 
aimed sticks I am sure my iiosition would have been utterl\' untenable. 
The last try for i)ictures, when the yoiuig were placed on the old stumi) a few 
feet to the east of the big elm, did not pass off so smoothl}'. Whether the city 
friend who had become interested in the imoceedings and who was this time trusted 
as m\' body guard was less effective with voice and missiles than he should have 
been or whether the owls no longer feared an ordinary demonstration, it would be 
hard to saju Two of the youngsters were already on the oak stump and I was 
somewhere aloft in quest of the third. Presumably I was either just reaching over 
the nest rim for the last snapping owlet or ehse had just started down with him. 
I\Iy memory has never been clear on the point nor was my excited friend ever able 
I'ig. 12. APRII. 22,M‘K)7: .\ I'RONT.rn VIKW; two D.WS I..\TKR WKRP: IX TIIK TREP; TOPS 
to elucidate fully. At any rate my position for the moment must have been 
strategically bad. The sharp cry “Look out! ” barely gave me time to duck my 
head, when a resounding whack was administered across my shoulders. This was 
not damaging, but the return stroke would come (juickly and doubtle.ss be better 
placed. It came and I ducked again, but not quite far enough, or possiblj^ 
not at e.xactly the right instant. The shock was profound. The list of damages 
showed three scalp wounds from an inch to nearly three inches in length, while my 
cap had disappeared entirely from the .scene. This was later found under a tree some 
hundred yards to the south, a punctured souvenir of our last intimate contact 
w’ith the Great Horned Owls. 
After each sitting the young were replaced in the nest and two days after the 
stormy last one, on April 24, the house was found empty and the family was in the 
