Owls, from their peculiar ways of hunting, are
prone to light on stubs and exposed branches; and so Kookooskoos had
used my pole as a watch tower before carrying off his game.
There is another way in which he is easily fooled. In the early
spring, when he is mating, and again in the autumn, when the young
birds are well fed and before they have learned much, you can bring
him close up to you by imitating his hunting call. In the wilderness,
where these birds are plenty, I have often had five or six about me at
once. You have only to go well out beyond your tent, and sit down
quietly, making yourself part of the place. Give the call a few times,
and if there is a young bird near with a full stomach, he will answer,
and presently come nearer. Soon he is in the tree over your head, and
if you keep perfectly still he will set up a great hooting that you
have called him and now do not answer. Others are attracted by his
calling; they come in silently from all directions; the outcry is
startling. The call is more nervous, more eerie, much more terrifying
close at hand than when heard in the distance.
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