Hooty the Owl

“ I've learned that Farmer Brown's boy isn't as much to be feared as he used to be. I've learned that Hooty isn't as stupid as I thought he was. I've learned that while it may be all right for us people of the Green Forest to try to outwit each other we ought to protect each other against common dangers. And I've learned something I didn't know before, and that is that Hooty the Owl is the very first of us to set up housekeeping. ”

“ Most of the little meadow and forest people are very much afraid of Hooty the Owl as soon as it begins to grow dark, for that is when he can see best and does all his hunting. So, though it wasn't at all nice of them, they enjoyed seeing him tormented by Blacky and his relatives. But all the time they took the greatest care to keep out of sight themselves. Peter Rabbit was there. So was Jumper the Hare and Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Whitefoot the Wood Mouse and Striped Chipmunk and a lot more. ”

“ But never before had he found a nest of Hooty the Owl. Those two big eggs would add ever so much to his collection. “Take 'em,” said a little voice inside. “Hooty is a robber. You will be doing a kindness to the other birds by taking them.”
“Don't do it,” said another little voice. “Hooty may be a robber, but he has a place in the Green Forest, or Old Mother Nature never would have put him here. It is just as much stealing to take his eggs as to take the eggs of any other bird. He has just as much right to them as Jenny Wren has to hers.” ”

“ Mischief-makers are always on the watch lest they get caught in their mischief. So Blacky the Crow, sitting on the tip-top of the big pine, kept one eye out for trouble while he enjoyed the tormenting of Hooty the Owl by his aunts and his uncles and his cousins. He had seen Farmer Brown's boy even before Johnny Chuck had. ”

“ All of a sudden, just like that, quick as the wind that blows off your hat, Old Hooty Tooty Owl grabbed up the little rabbit and pushed him through the window of his big Tree House.
“I’ll eat you when you’ve grown nice and fat,” tooted that wicked night bird.
“Oh, please let me go home to mother! It will take me a long time to grow big and fat. Maybe I’ll grow thin, instead. Yes, I’ll grow thinner and thinner until by and by I’ll be as thin as a pin,” sobbed the frightened bunny boy.
“Stuff and nonsense!” answered the old owl, “I’ll feed you on lollypops and ice cream cones.” ”

“ Quack stood on his head and hunted for rice.
It was wonderfully quiet and peaceful. There was not even a ripple on the Big River. It was so quiet that they could hear the barking of a dog at a farmhouse a mile away. They were far enough out from the bank to have nothing to fear from Reddy Fox or Old Man Coyote. So they had nothing to fear from any one save Hooty the Owl. It was for Hooty that they took turns in watching. It was just the hour when Hooty likes best to hunt.
[pg 148] By and by they heard Hooty's hunting call. It was far away in the Green Forest. Then Mr. and Mrs. ”

“ They are barbed with hairs which act like telephone wires and double and redouble the intensity of every sound. His eyes are set in deeply, so that when he wants to look around, he has to turn his head. He cannot see behind him like a Rabbit, or a Horse without blinders.
An Owl’s stomach is also very peculiar. The alimentary tract is shaped like a wide-mouthed vase, with no intervening crop, as in most Birds. Hoot-Mon packs his food into the flaring top, which is his mouth, and without chewing, crowds it with one foot down through the narrow opening, into the bulb-shaped base. ”

“ It was Hoot-Mon, the great Owl, who put an end to Jim. Between the Owls and the Crows there is lifelong enmity. An Owl will attack a Crow at night and a Crow will attack an Owl in the daytime. I knew Hoot-Mon, of course—every Little Brother of the Woods knows Hoot-Mon,—but an article on him had not as yet been ordered, and so I made no special study of him. ”

“ The prettily-mottled plumage of the goat-sucker, like that of the owl, wants the lustre which is observed in the feathers of the birds of day. This at once marks him as a lover of the pale moon's nightly beams. There are nine species here. The largest appears nearly the size of the English wood-owl. Its cry is so remarkable that, having once heard it, you will never forget it. When night reigns over these immeasurable wilds, whilst lying in your hammock you will hear this goat-sucker lamenting like one in deep distress. A stranger would never conceive it to be the cry of a bird. ”

“ We know full well that most extraordinary examples of splendid talent do from time to time make their appearance on the world's wide stage—and may we not suppose that the barn-owl which Sir William shot in the absolute act of hooting, may have been a gifted bird of superior parts and knowledge, endowed, perhaps, from its early days with the faculty of hooting, or else taught it by its neighbour the tawny owl? ”

“ Very few observers have ever seen an Owl’s nest. This one was not round, but long and narrow, with a great bundle of feathers at one end for a pillow. Hoot-Mon was asleep, lying flat on his back, with a blanket made of Rabbit skins over him, and snoring audibly. In the bottom of the nest was a Hare mattress. I did not disturb him, for he works at night and needs his sleep in the daytime.
An Owl is really a very peculiar beast and one that will amply repay study. ”

“ This species is the most common of the large owls, and can be distinguished by its mottled and barred gray and white plumage, and lack of ear tufts; length 20 inches. It is the bird commonly meant by the term "hoot owl", and being strictly
White
nocturnal, is rarely seen flying in the day time, unless disturbed from its roosting place in the deep woods. Its food consists chiefly of rats, mice and frogs, and sometimes, but not often, poultry. It nests in the heart of large woods, generally in hollows of large trees, and less often in deserted Crow's nests. ”

“ It is nocturnal in its habits, and is very rarely seen abroad in the day, and then only in cloudy weather or late in the afternoon. When detected in its hiding-place by the Jay, Crow, or King-bird, and driven forth by their annoyances, it labors under great disadvantages, and flies at random in a hesitating flight, until twilight enables it to retaliate upon its tormentors. The hooting and nocturnal cries of the Great Horned Owl are a remarkable feature in its habits. These are chiefly during its breeding-season, especially the peculiar loud and vociferous cries known as its hooting. ”

“ The hoot owl has so many wild notes in his voice that it is not at all strange that he scares people who have not been brought up in the woods. Before he sends out his proper hoot he sometimes seems to try to frighten everybody out of the forest with his awful shrieks. Sometimes several hoot owls get together in the night to hold a concert. ”

“ Owl never found out the trick, nor suspected the innocent little Honey Bird, whom indeed he scarcely ever saw, because it was a sunset-sleeping bird, while he was a wistful, lonely, sad night-prowler. Up and down, up and down the world he goes, still looking for the betel-nut of the Princess Putri Balan, which he will never find. And as he flies in the moonlight he glances ever longingly at the beautiful lady in the moon, and sobs "Hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo!" in grief and despair. For after all these centuries he begins to fear that she will never be his wife. ”

“ Gutta Serena is to him unknown—no Snowy Owl was ever couched for cataract—no need has he for an oculist, should he live an hundred years; and were they to attempt any operation on his lens or iris, how he would hoot at Alexander and Wardrope!
Night, doubtless, is the usual season of his prey; but he does not shun the day, and is sometimes seen hovering unhurt in the sunshine. The red or black grouse flies as if pursued by a ghost; but the Snowy Owl, little slower than the eagle, in dreadful silence overtakes his flight, and then death is sudden and sure. ”

“ When on earth they fade and perish,
Blossom in that heaven above us.”
When he heard the owls at midnight,
Hooting, laughing in the forest,
“What is that?” he cried in terror,
“What is that,” he said, “Nokomis?”
And the good Nokomis answered:
“That is but the owl and owlet,
Talking in their native language,
Talking, scolding at each other.”
Then the little Hiawatha
Learned of every bird its language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,
How they built their nests in Summer,
Where they hid themselves in Winter,
Talked with them whene’er he met them,
Called them “Hiawatha’s Chickens.” ”

“ But he had spotted this tree as being one place where they came from, and he was just going to learn them to go biting policemen.
As I walked back to the house I reflected that every one has his troubles—troubles that other people couldn't imagine existed, and yet very real ones. It made me feel better about mine. And I thought how poor Hattie would have probably called this owl matter "queer," and how unjust it was of her or any one to use such a word just because a thing seemed a bit unusual or hard to understand.
When I reached home I found to my regret that my brother Talbot was present. ”

“ The uncanny creatures have their rumpus to themselves, one answering another, while other wood folk go their quiet ways through the dusk without a sign that they are touched by the disturbance. But at last comes an evening when something creeps into the owl’s voice that was not there before; no sooner does he begin to hoot than every bird or beast that hears must lift his head to cry answer. At such times even the taciturn bears will break their long silence, and go whooping through the woods in obedience to some weird impulse which the owl was first to feel. ”

“ Almost immediately, cold, wet wings beat against my face and a big white Owl, more dead than alive, fell full length on the floor of my cabin.
I grasped my brandy bottle and poured a liberal quantity down the Bird’s throat. Presently he sat up, blinked, dragged himself over to the fire, and bowed twice to me, very gravely, as though to say, “Thank you.”
All that night we sat there, watching each 212other. By nature we were enemies; by force of circumstances we were friends.
Toward morning Hoot-Mon got up and tried to dance, but fell over and went to sleep instead. ”

“ At once they all began to fly over the top of the tree where they could look down into the nest and there, sure enough, was Mrs. Hooty, her great, round, yellow eyes glaring up at them angrily. Such a racket! Right away Hooty was forgotten, and the whole crowd at once began to torment Mrs. Hooty. Only Blacky sat watchful and silent, waiting for Mrs. Hooty to lose her temper and try to catch one of her tormentors. He had hope, a great hope, that he would get one of those eggs.
CHAPTER VIII: Hooty Comes To Mrs. Hooty's Aid
No one can live just for self alone. ”

“ By day it keeps well hidden in some deserted woodpecker's hole or a hollow in some old orchard tree, which is its favourite residence; but some mischievous little birds, with sharper eyes than ours, often discover its hiding place, wake it up, and chase it, blinking and bewildered, all about the farm. By night, when its tormentors are asleep, this little owl goes forth for its supper, and then we hear its weird, sweet, shivering, tremulous cry. Because it lives near our homes and is, perhaps, the commonest of the owls all over our country, every child can know it by sound, if not by sight. ”

“ But, beneath its loose feathery garments, her body, hardly larger than that of a ringdove, is altogether out of proportion to her long, narrow head and wide-spreading talons. Visions of the past may come to her, as, blinking at the light [Pg 386] of day, she sits in the hollow of the tree, but at night she is far too wide-awake to dream. And so great are the owl's powers of sight and hearing, and so swift is her “stoop” from the sky to the ground, that the bank-vole has little chance of escape should a single grass-stalk rustle underfoot when she is hovering near his haunt. ”

“ Till lately, a great and well-known distinction has always been made betwixt the screeching and the hooting of owls. The tawny owl is the only owl which hoots; and when I am in the woods after poachers, about an hour before daybreak, I hear with extreme delight its loud, clear, and sonorous notes, resounding far and near through hill and dale. ”

“ The bright, dark eyes of birds and animals frequently betray them, as these are almost invariably large and prominent. A short-eared owl on a peat-moss I have mistaken for a clod of turf, and a gaunt heron with wind-fluttered feathers for drift stuff caught in the swaying branches of the stream. Another characteristic case of protective imitation is furnished by the nightjar or goatsucker. This night-flying bird, half owl, half swallow, rests during the day on bare bits of limestone on the fells. ”

“ On the following morning I went with the friend I was visiting at Willersey to Saintbury, and the story heard overnight was confirmed. The owl had been hooting in the daytime in the same old horse-chestnut tree from which it had a short time ago foretold the young woman's death. One of the villagers, who was engaged in repairing the thatch of a cottage close to the tree, informed us that the owl's hooting had not troubled him in the least. Owls, he truly said, often hoot in the daytime during the autumn months, and he did not believe that it meant death for some one. ”

“ Quite close by an owl hooted.
“Oh, but this is too lovely for anything,” cried Melian. “By the way, what on earth are people talking about when they talk about the hoot of an owl being dismal. Why, it’s melodious to a degree.” ”