few remarks to make upon the “Duck,” and made them in a
sing-song tone, for he had learned it by heart, and thought it a great
plague to do it at all.
“Wild ducks are hard to kill; men hide and shoot at them, and have
tame ducks to quack and make the wild ones come where the men
can fire at them. They have wooden ducks made too, and they sail
round, and the wild ones come to see them; they are stupid, I think.
Our ducks are very tame. They eat a great deal, and go poking
round in the mud and water. They don’t take good care of their
eggs, but them spoil, and ”
“Mine don’t!” cried Tommy.
“Well, some people’s do; Silas said so. Hens take good care of
little ducks, only they don’t like to have them go in the water, and
make a great fuss. But the little ones don’t care a bit. I like to eat
ducks with stuffing in them and lots of apple-sauce.”
“I have something to say about owls,” began Nat, who had
carefully prepared a paper upon this subject with some help from
Dan.
“Owls have big heads, round eyes, hooked bills, and strong claws.
Some are gray, some white, some black and yellowish. Their
feathers are very soft, and stick out a great deal. They fly very
quietly, and hunt bats, mice, little birds, and such things. They
build nests in barns, hollow trees, and some take the nests of other
birds. The great horned owl has two eggs bigger than a hen’s and
reddish brown. The tawny owl has five eggs, white and smooth;
and this is the kind that hoots at night. Another kind sounds like a
child crying. They eat mice and bats whole, and the parts that they
cannot digest they make into little balls and spit out.”
“My gracious! how funny!” Nan was heard to observe.
“They cannot see by day; and if they get out into the light, they go
flapping round half blind, and the other birds chase and peck at
them, as if they were making fun. The horned owl is very big,
‘most as big as the eagle. It eats rabbits, rats, snakes, and birds; and
lives in rocks and old tumble-down houses. They have a good
many cries, and scream like a person being choked, and say,
‘Waugh O! waugh O!’ and it scares people at night in the woods.
The white owl lives by the sea, and in cold places, and looks
something like a hawk. There is a kind of owl that makes holes to
live in like moles. It is called the burrowing owl, and is very small.
The barn-owl is the commonest kind; and I have watched one
sitting in a hole in a tree, looking like a little gray cat, with one eye
shut and the other open. He comes out at dusk, and sits round
waiting for the bats. I caught one, and here he is.”
With that Nat suddenly produced from inside his jacket a little
downy bird, who blinked and ruffled his feathers, looking very
plump and sleepy and scared.
“Don’t touch him! He is going to show off,” said Nat, displaying
his new pet with great pride. First he put a cocked hat on the bird’s
head, and the boys laughed at the funny effect; then he added a
pair of paper spectacles, and that gave the owl such a wise look
that they shouted with merriment. The performance closed with
making the bird angry, and seeing him cling to a handkerchief
upside down, pecking and “clucking,” as Rob called it. He was
allowed to fly after that, and settled himself on the bunch of
pine-cones over the door, where he sat staring down at the
company with an air of sleepy dignity that amused them very
much.
“Have you anything for us, George?” asked Mr. Bhaer, when the
room was still again.
“Well, I read and learned ever so much about moles, but I declare
I’ve forgotten every bit of it, except that they dig holes to live in,
that you catch them by pouring water down, and that they can’t