322 Habits of the Tawny Owl. 



Art. III. Notes on the Habits of the Tawny Oxd. By Charles 

 Waterton, Esq. 



Of all our British owls, this is by far the greatest favourite 

 with me, and I take great interest in its preservation. 



Whilst temperance societies are rising up in all directions 

 to warn the thirsty sinner that gin and godliness are not in 

 unison, I could wish that some benevolent person would in- 

 struct the ignorant on the true nature and habits of many poor 

 dumb animals, which undergo a perpetual persecution, under 

 the erroneous idea that they are inimical to the interests of 

 man. I would willingly go twenty miles on foot, over the 

 flintiest road, to hear some patroness of infant schools tell her 

 little pupils that, nowadays, there are no old women who ride 

 through the air on broomsticks, with a black cat in their laps ; 

 that ravens, owls, and magpies have long since dropped all 

 dealing with people in the other world ; and that hedgehogs 

 are clearly proved never to have sucked a cow ; though our 

 silly farmers, almost to a man, would fain persuade us that 

 these little harmless creatures are guilty of the preposterous 

 act. Notwithstanding the apprehensions of the dairy-maid, I 

 now and then venture to purchase a captive hedgehog, and 

 turn it into the park ; there to live and die in peace. 



It was but the other day that a neighbouring young lady 

 complained to me of an owl which had been hooting, for three 

 or four successive nights, far too near her bedroom windows ; 

 and she wished indeed that it were shot. I startled as she 

 uttered this, for it instantly occurred to me that the bird of 

 which she complained might possibly be one which was bred 

 here last summer ; and that its propensity to night-errantry, 

 had brought it into a scrape. So, I tried to persuade her that 

 nothing but sheer curiosity could have induced the owl to take 

 the undue liberty of peeping in at her window ; and I was 

 sure that it could have seen nothing there to displease it. 



I have never heard an owl, either in Europe or in America, 

 that utters sounds so nearly resembling the human voice as 

 those which our tawny owl sends forth. Here, where all is 

 still, and everything to be found that is inviting to the feathered 

 race, this bird will hoot at intervals throughout the day, both 

 in cloudy and in sunny weather. Were you to pronounce 

 the letter O in a loud and very clear tone of voice, and then, 

 after a short pause, repeat the same letter in a drawling, tre- 

 mulous accent, you would have a tolerably just idea of the 

 hooting of the tawny owl. It will sometimes produce a sharp 

 cry, which sounds not unlike the word quo-ah; both male 

 and female utter this cry. 



