Dolly had a 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 do n't take good care of their eggs , but them spoil , and -- '' `` Mine do n't ! '' cried Tommy . `` Well , some people 's do ; Silas said so . Hens take good care of little ducks , only they do n't like to have them go in the water , and make a great fuss . But the little ones do n'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 can not digest they XXXXX into little balls and spit out . ''
come cried hoots like make plague sail say shoot sounds