402 BURNING OF THE FORESTS.
removed from the water, and went up to a burning log, where we warmed
ourselves. What was to become of us I did not know. My wife hugged
the child to her breast, and wept bitterly; but God had preserved us
through the worst of the danger, and the flames had gone past, so I
thought it would be both ungrateful to Him, and unmanly to despair
now. Hunger once more pressed upon us, but tins was easily remedied.
Several deer were still standing in the water, up to the head, and I shot
one of them. Some of its flesh was soon roasted; and, after eating it, we
felt wonderfully strengthened.
" By this time the blaze of the fire was beyond our sight, although the
ground was still burning in many places, and it was dangerous to go
among the burnt trees. After resting a while, and trimming ourselves,
we prepared to commence our march. Taking up the child, I led the
way over the hot ground and rocks; and, after two weary days and
nights, during which we shifted in the best manner we could, we at last
reached the " hard woods," which had been free of the fire. Soon after
we came to a house, where we were kindly treated for a while. Since
then, Sir, I have worked hard and constantly as a lumberer; but, thanks
be to God, here we are safe, sound, and happy it
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T H E B A R N OWL.
STRIX FLAMMEA, LINN.
P L A T E C L X X I . MAX.* AND FEMALE.
NOT a single individual of the numerous persons who have described
the birds of the United States, seems to have had opportunities of studying
the habits of this beautiful Owl, and all that I find related respecting
it is completely at variance with my observations. In describing the
manners of this bird, I shall therefore use all due caution, although at
the same time I shall not be too anxious to obtain credit in this, more
than in some other matters, for which I have patiently borne the contradictions
of the ignorant. The following extracts from my journals I
hope will prove interesting.
St Augustine, East Florida, 8th November 1882.—Mr SIMMONS, the
Keeper of the Fort, whom I had known at Henderson in Kentucky,
having informed me that some boys had taken five young Barn Owls from
a hole in one of the chimneys, I went with a ladder to see if I could procure
some more. After much search I found only a single egg, which
had been recently laid. It was placed on the bare stone of the wall, surrounded
by fragments of small quadrupeds of various kinds. During
our search I found a great number of the disgorged pellets of the Owl,
among which some were almost fresh. They contained portions of skulls
and bones of small quadrupeds unknown to me. I also found the entire
skeleton of one of these Owls in excellent condition, and observing a
curious bony crest-like expansion on the skull from the base of the cere
above to that of the lower mandible, elevated nearly a quarter of an inch
from the solid part of the skull, and forming a curve like a horse-shoe,
I made an outline of it. On speaking to the officers of the garrison respecting
this species of Owl, Lieutenant CONSTANTINE SMITH, a most
amiable and intelligent officer of our army, informed me, that, in the
months of July and August of that year, these birds bred more abundantly
than at the date above stated. Other persons also assured me
that, like the House Pigeon, the Barn Owl breeds at all seasons of the
year in that part of the country. The statement was farther corroborated
by Mr L E E WILLIAMS, a gentleman formerly attached to the topographic
c 2