The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1920-02-05


if such thing was possible in a fighting
brown devil.
After a months acquaintance I saw
that Ugla knew me apart from every one
else. Other members of the family often
threw him bits of food but he saw great
deal more of me than he did of any other
human. spent much time in and about his
cage, passing close to him every day. Others
were not so keen to wax intimate with him.
At first my presence made him furious
and l was always on s'se watch to ward off
possible attack. has great respect for his
beak and talons. Then Ugla seemed to get
it into his head that did not come to harm
but to feed and care for him, and after that
he generally sat in dignifed silence while l
fused about nearby | talked to him in a
low even tone whenever near him and he
seemed to grow to know my voice.
l would kill crow or black bird and
start for his cage. If it was daytime he had
hard work seeing anything unless nearby.
But he always heard me coming down the
driveway and would puff up and snap his
beak until l reached his cage and spoke to
him, when his feathers would go down and
he would evince an appearance of keen in
quiry as to what l had for him. But conf
dence was having hard fight with his nat
ural ferocity and suspicion and he never took
his yellow eyes from my face.
l would balance the dead bird on the
wire side of the cage above the ground. Sud-
denly he would see it, Swiftly, with noise
less grace, he would leave his branch and
strike. Hanging to the wire and the bird
with his claws, he would reach down and
take his prey in his bill, then fly back to his
perch. He would watch me intently, but
if l sat down and remained quiet he would
soon fall to eating. In few short minutes
the dead bird would have completely disap-
peared, bones, feathers, and all. Later on
I would notice on the ground little balls of
broken bono and wet zTseathers that he had
disgourged. In this manner the stomach was
promptly relieved of all indigestible matter.
When l went to his cage at night l
often found him on the ground near the wire.
With all my careful treatment he was look
ing for place to get out. AS fall drew near
l returned to the city and only saw Ugla at
week ends. But the family remained at the
shore and took the best of care~of him.
Even after being away for week he
seemed to remember me. With little stick
would go into his cage and scratch his head
and neck while he sat quietly blinking. l
often listened to hear him at night, but never
once while had him did he send the deep
Hoo, hoo, hoo-o-o into the black silence as
had heard his relatives do in the woods
With the approach of cold weather
Ugla became noticeably more restless.
Through the day he sat solemnly on the
branch of the pine and paid no attention to
me, unless he happened to be hungry, in
which case he showed his old time interest
in what had brought him. The old fellow
was feeling his captivity and as the cold
nights came on it seemed to awaken lin him
the spirit of the wilderness. He must have
longed to stretch those powerful wings in
the silent, dark lanes of his native woods
and to be once more at his tireless still-hunt-
ing. I too have longed for the big open
places, so I knew how he felt.
While in the city thought of him and
finally decided to give him his freedom that
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