Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-08-23
THE DEMAND FOR OWLS.
Birds Used for Hats and Decorative
Purposes.

Purposes.
FAvoRITE RESORTS IN NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
CONCERNING THEM AMONG THE NATIvEs-A
TALK WITH BIRD rANcrER-
That's fine fellow, one of the finest ever
saw; only he's got his nose scratched and his
feathers unused just now" said 18th street
ord-fancier, as he stood admiring big boot
owl, who was holding his solitary reign in dry
goods box, alternately shading himself discon-
tentedly, as he eyed those about him sus-
piciously, and picking angrily at the iron bars
fixed on top of the box to confne his perambu-
lations within the limits Of two feet by three.
Hes fine one ooh, you ugly beast! Don't
you bite med He's genuine hooter. II he
were out in the woods you could hear him half
a mile"
''What are you going to do with him ?" asked
THE STAR man, leaning over to make friends
with the wise-looking creature.
Don't know; sell him to some of these rich
folks who fancy owls, l reckon. Don't put your
fingers there if you don't want him to bite you"
Folks don't make pets Of those creatures, do
they?"
Not generally when they are alive" replied
the bird-fancier. They have 'em stuffed. It's
quite the thing to have stuffed owl on the
mantel or buffet in dining room. l don't
think shall kill him though. I'll sell him to
some one who wants him alive"
do you sell many owls?"
Yes just as many as 1 can get. For the
past two or three years they have been in great
demand: They are used as decorations and are
very fashionable. Sometimes they are used for
hats; the small ones for decorations and larger
ones for the whole hat, the head in front and the
wings Topping over behind to form the crown.
sometimes
One OF the most effective costumes you could
Imagine at fancy ball is Might, with little
screech owl on her shoulder or perched on the
neither horn of the moon on her staff. But the
naments for the dining room or study. It's got
ten to be quite craze and it's hard to get
birds enough to meet the demand"
'Where do you find them?"
'Down In Virginia. One of the best places
anywhere near here is down in the swamps at
Mt Vernon. There's place they call Hell
Hole that's full of them. I guess that's why
they gave it the name, because the owls keep
up such hooting there at night and some OF
the darkies fancy the devil lives there. Then
there's another place. guess it's the best in
the country-up in Chesterfield county, Vir-
gnia in the Chesterfield woods, near the coal
mines. That's where we hunt them mostly
do you hunt them YOURSELF" asked THE
STAR man.
Eyes, l can't always get the folks up
that way to hunt them. The colored people
would not kill one for the world. and even many
ofthe white folks are superstitiOus. The last
time was out took young fellow along with
me, and when we got into the woods he got SO
frightened had to take him home again. The
negroes think if they kill an owl they will never
see de land OBJ Jubilee They think they will
die speedy and Unnatural death, and be trans
lated into the depths of darkness.
Hunting owls" he added, after beating on
the box to make his 'hooter'' stop biting the
bars. Hunting owls is great sport, but it's
kind Of weired and lonesome. We take moon
light nights for it; and 60 out in the dense
woods, miles from any habtation. Down in the
oak woods at Chesterfield is the widest place at
but the big black trees and the heavy shadows
cast by the moon, and you don't hear anything
but the dropping OF leaves and acorns and the
hooting of the owls. But the last is music
enough when it gets started. When you first
get into the woods it seems awful dark, and you
are depressed by the stiffness. and when an owl
flies by it'll brighten yOu don't care how used to
it YOU are. Did you ever hear an owl fly through
the woods at night? Well, they make a noise
that's the nearest no noise of anything you Can
imagine. There is no word to describe it, They
don't beat the air like any other birds. 1t sounds
as if their wings were muffied-it's q soft
nOiseess noise, as if their wings were of the
softest down. Well. when you get deep into
the woods you hear the hooting all around you
In every tone and in every direction-they keep
WHO'D, tu-whit, tu-whit, tu-whoo-o-os. come out
of every dark shadow. from every deep gulch,
and shattered stub We follow the sound, and
that's the way we hunt them. We generally
find them on old stubs, whose branches are shat
tered Oft SO that they stand out in bold relief
between us and the moon-that's the way we
see them. big boot owl looks very solemn
standing out against the moon that way. Some
times we creep upon them and kill them, or if
they are too sharp for US to get them that way we
mark the stub and come back In the daytime,
when we are sure of finding them asleep in their
hOllOws. We can catch them alive then. The
screech owls are easier to get, but we don't
care SO much for them. It's the great big
hooters We want"
''What are they worth when stuffed and
mounted" asked The STAR man.
From five to eight dollars piece" replied
the taxidermist "They are about the highest
priced birds now. The eagle used to be- the
most expensive, but they were never more than
five dollars. But I've got to feed my parrots"
he said, and walked back into his little shop and
was lost among the cages and cases of birds
and animals of all sorts, dead and alive, that
numbered up the little dingy room in pictur-
esque confusion.
ssSick'' and ssEII,'' Etc.