CONCORD 
1911 
Itober 13 
Lons-eared 
Owl seen 
in 
evening; 
twiligh t 
As I was returning from Davis’s Hill to Ball’s 
Hill about half an hour after sunset this evening, an Owl 
of the size of a Partridge (Bonasa )started from the big 
black oak that stands on the edge of the swampy hollow filled 
with button bushes and,after circling over me within 15 
feet,returned to the oak, where it perched for a moment on 
a large limb about 20 feet above the ground. This was 
repeated a dozen times or more. Usually the bird came out 
directly towards me and after circ]ing close around me 
went back directly into the tree, where it always alighted 
on one of the stouter branches, not more than 20 feet up. 
Sometimes, however, it flew away from me at first and, after 
crossing an opening beyond the swamp, came back over me to 
the oak^while twice it alighted in a leafless maple on the 
opposite side of the road from the oak and on the edge of 
the meadow. Finally it flew out across the meadow nearly 
if not quite to the edge of the river where I lost sight 
of it in the gathering gloom ^-Although it seemed nervous 
and very restless, it was not at all shy but, on the con¬ 
trary, evidently quite fearless of me and apparently curious 
to make out just what kind of a being I was. Its repeated 
returns to the oak indicated ths.t it had a strong preference 
for this particular tree, perhaps because of its immense 
size or because of its position on the edge of a mouse-haunted 
swamp. Nevertheless the bird did not once remain in this tree 
