St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1894-06-09

sISH, La, SATURDA
HAVING FUN WITH An OWL
Tho Ingenious Sport ee N Enthaslaseie
German Sportsman.
Perhaps no people who come to this
country are more fond of sport with
shotgun, or get more fun out of it than
the Germans They do not mind lit
tie thing like a scarcity of game or
how small the game is that is scarce
A typical German sportsman will even
go after sparrows and will deliberately
dress for the sport of potting them
with long leggings and an alpine hat
decked with a feather, and game
pouch slung from one shoulder
One ardent sportsman of this city has
q most ingenious and interesting meth
od of getting fun out of a fowling
piece. He has a great white horned
owl that he takes with him. He goes
down into Long Island to some seclud-
cd spot where there is q combination
of woodland and farmland. He settles
upon place that promises well. and
th.n he finds q tall post or dead tree
well exposed in an open field or place.
He takes his owl out of his basket,
fastens a chain to one of its legs and
fixes the other end of the chain to the
top of the post or the lowest projection
of the dead trec-whichever it is that
he has hit upon. This he does at night.
Then he rests until daybreak.
He would not miss being there at
daybreak for any sum within reason,
and it is more than likely that few who
hear his account of what follows would
want to miss it either. 1t seems that
many kinds of feathered creatures de-
test and hate an owl, and long all their
lives for a chance to get at one. 1t is
at daybreak that these birds begin to
appear. First nighthawk comes
along and then a crow or two, and then
a dozen other sorts of hawks. one at .
time, and a kingbird, perhaps The
chained owl, sitting on the stump,
lazily blinking his eyes in the growing
light, and all unsuspicious of danger,
suddenly receives fearful blow in tho
neck. A big hawk has turned himself
into a monster bullet and flown or
dropped full force on the tethercd bird.
The owl is knocked the full length of
IT'S chain and down upon the ground.
Gracious powers. but then there is q
tnmult to put Hagenback's show to
shame. For the owl is q lively, .
vicious, and a nervy fighter. He Crap
:. l. H. \ f,,1c
OF hawk feathers and hawk meat faster
than a man can empty the barrels of a
revolver. The hawk plies the same
calling. and the feathers fly in little
Clouds II it happens that the owl
falls on his back with the hawk on top,
he then uses both feet, as we'll as his
beak. The hunter now appears and
frightens off the hawk, shooting him
when he is well up in the air and we'll
defined against the sky.
The owl flies back to his post and sits
there again, winking and pluming him
self and thinking. perhaps that he will
never be caught like that of his guard
again. He flatters himself that he did
his share in the tremendous fight, and
chuckles. may be, as he thinks of the
mouthsful Of hawk that he bit out
But above all else the owl prides him.
self that he won't be caught that way
again. just IS he is thinking so some
thing else happens.
Zip!
Another hawk hits the owl, and again
he is knocked to the ground and made
to fight for his life furiously, after q
manner much more violent than what
is known as the cat-and-canary sort of
ruction.
That second hawk being driven away
and killed, and the unhappy owl re-
stored to his perch, the hunter and
his stool pigeon await the next inter
ruption of the pastoral calm. 1t comes
in the shape OF a couple CT kingbirds
irritable, tantalizing little tcrments,
who fly and peck at the owl like two
monster mosquitoes The owl is by
this time thoroughly awake and
aroused. He beats the air with his
wings, fights with his beak aud dis
plays intense activity and anger. At
times he lifts himself of the perch, AID
then the chain. drags him down to the
ground. That is when the sportsman
makes away with his tormentore
In this way the novel sport is kept up
until the sun is high above the horizon,
at which time the relays of birds who
hate an owl cease to appear. The owl
has the most exciting time that can
possibly be imagined. He is only to be
compared to a football in a college
match. He fights to the last and utters
no complaint though it is possible
that the men who oppose cruelty to an
imals would argue that he is not hap
py. No one would say that of his mas
ter. the sportsman. for that parsonage
is the subject of rapturous delight