One morning Gertrude McCluck sleepily awoke to the sound of mournful clucking. She jumped down from her perch and waddled off into the barnyard to see what was matter. Once she got to the barnyard, she asked her friend Henrietta, "What's wrong?"

Henrietta sadly replied, "Look over there!"

Gertrude looked and saw a horrible sight. There lay Henrietta's son, Henry, with his head bitten off and with feathers scattered everywhere.

"What could have done this?" Henrietta mournfully asked.

"I don't know," Gertrude said. "But it could have been a fox, weasel, marmot, owl, raccoon, or hawk. All of those animals, except maybe the fox, usually only eat the head of their prey and leave the rest. Let's go look at the barnyard fence and see if there are any holes that aground predator could have gotten in through."

Henrietta and Gertrude examined the barnyard fence and didn't find any holes that predators could have gotten in through. "That means that it was probably not a ground predator and instead it was an owl or hawk," Gertrude said. "And since it probably happened last night, I suspect that it was an owl. Let's keep watch tonight and see if it comes back."

"That's a good idea," said Henrietta.

That night Gertrude and Henrietta kept a close watch. About midnight, they heard a flurry of wings. Henrietta and Gertrude peeked outside and saw a big fluffy barn owl. "What should we do now?" Henrietta asked.

"Try to scare it away so it never comes back!" Gertrude replied.

"Okay," Henrietta said.

They both flapped their wings and squawked until they finally saw the owl fly away. But as it flew away, a fox leaped out of the bushes and grabbed hold of the owl, which desperately tried to get away. At last the owl broke free of the fox's grasp and flew away. But the fox had succeeded in tearing off two of the owl's toes, which it now triumphantly began to eat.

"I'll bet that owl will never come back," Gertrude said. "It probably got the scare of its life!"

"I think you're right,'' Henrietta laughed.