The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-07-09
JIM ER4ZIER'S OWL P4RTY.
An Uncanny Sort of Entertainment Given
in the Woods in West Virginia.


West Virginia seems to be Il favorte region
for owls" said John Eochin Of Pittsburg. and
! was II highly amused participant once in
what they call an owl party down there was
camping on trout stream In the Cumberland
Mountains. attended by jim Frazier. a grizzly
old woodsman and mountnineer Just as it
was getting dark one muggy cloudy day. / was
sitting in the cabin door smoking. and JIM
after an inspection OF the surroundings and
conditions with his weather eve. said:
This is gointer be a fit night for an owl
party Shell git ye up one p
That was the first heard OF such thing as
an owl party
II don't know what you mean. Jim said l.
This Is gointer be q fit night for an owl
party he repeated. Shell git ye up one?
Jim had II way of doing things and explain
ing them ufterward 40 | knew that il wanted
to learn what an owl party was / would have to
"'Certainly.' said Get mo UP one, OF
That was all that was said or done about it
at the time. hut when darkness had settled
sent out on the night wind good i'm tation Of
the mournful cry of the hoot owl. After half a
NH minute cot, o, silence he repeated the cry, Pres
came an answer. mournful and prolonged:
Too whoo! Too-whoo Too whoo-o -o-o-or
anyhow said jim and agnin he repeated the
cry. 1t was responded to By the owl. this time
in the woods when from another direction
e. Two Of EN- said the old hunter.
ANA SO he kept on, stimulating the notes Of
the owl. until his calls were answered from
every part o. the surroundnE woods each
at every response. In ten minutes time,
from the trees oyer our heads. in front and
were sarng down at Gs from the 81 darkness less
When the ola woodsman uttered his cry softly
a. shorHs Of soft cooling RESPONSE net It from
sounding volume at tho ghostly assent lage,
from each throat beneath pair Of blazing eyes
sounds that human being ever stood still and
Listened to-. short. staccato yeps. like the
6riGhitiensd 6arSinG CT dog; biood-curdling
strangled; loud swapping Of the hooked mandi-
blcs. and air-raising, finale Of too-whoos.
would take " ing and glide about among the
branches in their ghostly. noseless way and
Oh our faces the wind from their silent wincs.
For an hour this exhibition was kept up by
the old woodsrnans def mannuvrinG, some
ludLcrous and sometimes with accompanm ents
sufficiently demoniaca to scare man into hts.
After he had ceased TO provoke the owls to fur
Their performances, they remained in the trees
aIuarter Of an hour or more swapping their
canny sounds Then they began to fit away.
one 10y one. in the darkness. until they had all
disappeared and sought their regular nightly
Givin oWl parties il trick that's as old as
the hills down in this kentry. said Jim. Owls
Ken be called Jest like that most any night but
amuggy nigh ike this one is the best. / dou I
know what they think they come for, but II
tha's an owl within sound OF yer wore when We
give the call-and an owl can hear considerable
furd"r than two miles-it'll answer ye and
grndu'ly make its way toward ,ye tiI at last its
yer company come to visit. I've had as many
as six dozen of EN- hobnobbin' with ME all to
wunst Owls will put off everything else the y We
got on hand and set and visit with ye all night
il yell only keep on talkin' to EN-, and they'll
Jaw back as fast and as sassy as you ken jaw at
thcm.'
Jim. Just at dusk one evening e ot me up a
whippoorwll party BY initiating the plaintive
call of that nocturnal bird he soon had score
or more OF them flutterng noiselessIy about
the cabin, never lighting. but swoopng about,
and keeping up the curious gathering and
swapping Of their hairy beaks that is charac-
teristic Of their kind.
~ couldn't do that II it wasn't June said
jim The whippoOrwlll don't whistle cent in
hat month. and it's always the e-fcller that
does it. That whistle Is his love call. and ali
them whippoorwills had caperin' round here
so was q tother sex and was 'spectin' to find
a mate here. hearin' the CALL
Jim assured me that could get up an owl
party or Il whippoorw party lust as well as he
could. but various persistent trials proved that
he was wrong. 1t seemed to me that | imi-
tated the cries OF the owl and the whippoor-
will as closely as he did. but not response
could l receive to my invitation. No sooner
would Jim pipe up or boot, though. than tho
answers would bekin to come. 1t was most
amazing, and from the wav old Jim grinned
that you had to be born in the woods to call an