Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1899-10-04

call an owl party down there l was
camping on a trout stream in the Cum
berland mountains. attended by Jim
Frazier, grizzly old woodsman and
mcuntaineer. just as il was getting
dark one muggy, cloudy day, was sit
ting in the cabin door smoking. and
Jim. after an inspection of the sur
roundings and conditions with his
weather eye. said:
d" This is gointer be fit night for
an owl party. Shell I git We mp oneT'
THAT was the first heard of such a
thing as an owl party.
4" L don't know what you mean.
Jim, said l.
" This is gointer be fit night for
an owl party. he repeated. Shell git
We up one2'
Jim had a way Of doing things and
explaining them afterward. so l knew
that if l wanted to learn what an owl
party was l would have to wait and see.
Certainly l said. Get me up
one. of course.
THAT was all that was said or done
about it at the time. but when darkness
had settled down Jim stood up in front
of the cabin and sent ont on the night
wind a good imitation of the mournful
cry Of the boot owl After half a min
ute Of silence he repeated the cry. Pres
emily from away off in the woods some
where came an answer. mournful and
prolonged;
" Too WHO'D Too-whoo. Too-w WHO'D
o-or
That's one old chap that'll be to
our party anyhow. said Jim. and again
he repeated the cry. 1t was responded
10 by the owl this time nearer. and
his notes had scarcely died away in the
woods when from another direction a
similar cry was heard.
a. Two of EN-, said the old hunter.
land so he kept on Stimulating the
notes Of the owl until his calls were
answered from every part of the sur
rounding woods, each answering bird
drawing nearer and nearer at every re-
spouse. In ten minutes time, from the
trees over our heads. in front and all
around the cabin, dozen pairs of fiery
eyes were glazing down at us from the
darkness When the old woOdsmaD ut
tered his cry softly, chorus Of soft,
cooling responses met il from the owls
in the trees If he hurled it in resound-
ing volume at the shostly assem- blage.
from each throat beneath a pair OF blaz-
ing eyes would come collection of the
most unearthly sounds that a human
being ever stood still and listened TO.
Short, staccato yelps, like the fright
ened barking of dog; blood curdling
gurglings and gaspings, as of a person
being strangled; loud swapping of the
hooked mandibles. and a hair raising
finale of too-whoOs toO-whoOs.
For an hour this exhibition was
kept up by the old woodsman's deft
maneuvering, sometimes with varia-
tions that were convulsingly ludicrOu.
and sometimes with accompaniment
sufficiently demoniacal TO scare n man
into fits. After he had ceased TO pro
woke the owls 10 further performances
they remained in the trees a quarter Of
an hour or more, swapping their bills
together and giving voice to variou,
uncanny sounds. Then they began L
fit away one by one in the darkness
until they had all disappeared.
'Givin owl parties is n trick that.
as old as the hills down in this kentry.
said Jim. owls ken be called Jest iik,
that most any night but a muggy
night like this one is the best. l dom
know what they think they come for
but if tha's an owl within sound of yel
voice when We give the call-and al
owl can hear considerable furdeI thar
two miles-itn answer We and gradu ],
make its way toward We till at last il
yer company come TO visit. I've had a
many as six dozen of EN- hodnOddil
with me all to wunst Owls will pnt OF
everything else they We got on hand an,
set and visit with We all night if yel
only keep on talkin to 'em, and they'l
jaw back as fast and as sassy as ye kel
jaw at them.
Jim. just at dusk one evening, 20
me up whippOorwill party. BY imi
tating the plaintive call of that noe
turnal bird he soon had a score or NOR
of them fiuttering noiselessly about tn
cabin, never lighting, but swoopini
about and keeping up the curious clat
tering and swapping of their hairy beak
that are characteristic of their kind.
Il cOuldn do that if it WASH
June, said Jim. The whippooI vii
don't whistle 'cept in that month. an
it's always the he Teller that does it
That whistle is his love call. and al
them whippoorwills had caperin roun
here so was of t'other sex and wa
spectin to find a mate here hearin tn
call.
"Jim assured me that / could get u
an owl party or a whippoorwill part
just as well as he could, but variou
persistent trials proved that he wa
wrong. 1t seemed to me that initiate
the cries of the owl and the whippooI
will as closely as he did. but not re
Spouse could l receive to my invitation
No sooner would Jim pipe up or hoot
though. than the answers would begi
TO come. II was most amazing. an
from the way old Jim grinned | in
agine he induced the test jnst to shoV
me that you had TO be born in tn
woods to call an owl New York Sun
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