Bird lore - Project Puffin

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Bird - Lore
But who has stirred a Barn Owl? Over the dew-laden meadows he stands
guard, or perhaps at the edge of the moonlit corn-fields, waiting for the only
prey that seems to interest him. He knows the country like a book, the runways
of the meadow mouse, the house mouse's path from corn shock to corn
shock, the mole's early morning starting point.
Under the old buttonball tree the broods of young chickens ran from early
morning to night. The owner felt that the large Owls were a menace to his
flock and watched for them with a gun. But, with the falL of the old tree and
a study of their food, a new light has spread to every farm in that vicinity.
I heard the young Owl's last 'rasp' on October i6; it was full of the weird
power which thrills one in the dark hours. A few minutes later, a big bird flew
low toward the orchard—the young Owls had taken to hunting at last.