Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-11-20
the OWL AND THE TURTLE


The Hungry Bird Made . Big Mistake IL
Being Too Pressing.
A few days ago j. F. Pafford and
party of friends went to the Big
Sandy, large, sluggish stream In
Benton County, Tenn. on y fishing
excursion. They carried wagon,
tent and the usual equipaRe. The
river is full Of logs and brush, and
cannot be seined readily, and it
abounds in very fine fish OF every va
riety found in that section, and es-
pecially in the Tennessee, of which 1t
is a tributary.
Friday night Pafford was sitting
sleepily on the bank, about 100 yards
below the campfire, watching his
lines. The moon cast q silver light
on the placid stream, made bright BY
the heavy foliage on either bank.
Opposite to where he lay, about fifty
yards distant, a large tree had fallen
into the water. On the body OF this
the turtles would lazily watch the
maneuvers OF the fishermen when
not otherwise engaged in stealing
their bait. An old fellow. probably
a foot in diameter, had crawled up
on the log, prepared to spend the
night, when suddenly large owl lit
on a limb that projected from the
trunk just above the turtle. The
latter slipped noiselessly inyo the
water. His Owlship merely turned
his head, keeping his position.
After few moments the turtle
returned. The owl watched him fully
five minutes and then commenced
edging his way down the linn. The
The movement could not lie detected
except by locating the position with
some fixed object beyond. Presently
it came to the body of the tree and
then commenced moving sideways by
the same slow motion toward the
turtle, whose side it soon reached.
The turtle drew out its long neck to
the uttermost, took look at its owl
ship and resumed its previous posi-
ton of rest. The owl cooked his
head toward the turtle, as much as
to say, GLOW are you, old friend::"
Then the owl resumed his side move
ment, forcing the turtle slowly up
the log. The turtle would move two
or three inches at time and settle.
The owl approached slowly, until his
body came in contact with that Of
the turtle, when the latter would
move again.
This was continued until the ow
had pushed the turtle about four
feet and to the end of the log, which
was above the water four feet. The
object of the owl was evidently to
force the turtle to drop to the water
and as it descended TO grab aud carry
him off as he is won't to do with a
chicken on the roost.
at the end of the log the turtle
manifested disposition to remain
where it was and turned itself around,
with its head facing the owl. The
latter raised his wings just a little
and left them down suddenly, but
the turtle didn't frighten worth a
cent. Presently the owl outstretched
its mOnstrOus wings over the turtle
In a second there was a scream Of
pain from the owl. The bird arose
from the log to the height OF thirty
feet, then darted across the stream
with the turtle. striking the ground
with thui that was heard fifty
yards above. Pafford rushed to the
spot and caught them. The turtle
had seized him by the wings close TO
the body and held on with tenacity
worthy Of bulldog. The turtle
measured eleven ~inches across the
back and the owl three feet from tip
to tip. The latter was of the horned
variety. Embellishments