ht, the
owl would doubtless swoop down upon it. I think the owl has learned to
distinguish me from the rest of the passers-by; at least, when I stop
before him, and he sees himself observed, he backs down into his den, as
I have said, in a very amusing manner. Whether bluebirds, nut-hatches,
and chickadees--birds that pass the night in cavities of trees--ever
run into the clutches of the dozing owl, I should be glad to know. My
impression is, however, that they seek out smaller cavities. An old
willow by the roadside blew down one summer, and a decayed branch broke
open, revealing a brood of half-fledged owls, and many feathers and
quills of bluebirds, orioles, and other songsters, showing plainly
enough why all birds fear and berate the owl.

The English house sparrows, that are so rapidly increasing among us, and
that must add greatly to the food supply of the owls and other birds of
prey, seek to baffle their enemies by roosting in the densest evergreens
they can find, in the arbor-vitae, and in hemlock hedges. Soft-winged as
the owl is, he cannot steal in upon such a retreat without giving them
warning.

These sparrows are becoming about the most noticeable of my winter
neighbors, and a troop of them every morning watch me put out the hens'
feed, and soon claim their share. I rather encouraged them in their
neighborliness, till one day I discovered the snow under a favorite
plum-tree where they most frequently perched covered with the scales of
the fruit-buds. On investigating I found that the tree had been nearly
stripped of its buds--a very unneighborly act on the part of the
sparrows, considering, too, all the cracked corn I had scattered for
them. So I at once served notice on them that our good understanding was
at an end. And a hint is as good as a kick with this bird. The stone I
hurled among them, and the one with which I followed them up, may have
been taken as a kick; but they were only a hint of the shot-gun that
stood ready in the corner. The sparrows left in high dungeon, and were
not back again in some days, and were then very shy. No doubt the
time is near at hand when we shall have to wage serious war upon these
sparrows, as they long have had to do on the continent of Europe. And
yet it will be hard to kill the little wretches, the only Old World bird
we have. When I take down my gun to shoot them I shall probably remember
that the Psalmist said, "I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the
house-