St3 NOtES FROM A BIRD-NfeSTlNG EXPEDITION 



evening on an iron cross on the roof at tlie end of the church, we stuck a 

 short stick with the mouse attached by a string to it in the ground opposite ; 

 at the side was stuck a twig, whose three thin branches, which were limed, 

 spread over the mouse at a height of two or three inches. This being 

 arranged to our satisfaction, we laid at a little distance off, smoking our 

 pipes and watching the result. I had just bet Bots a bottle of his best that 

 we should be again disappointed, when we observed an Owl light on the 

 cross ; presently, down he darted, in the direction of the mouse. He's 

 caught ! was the exclamation ; and so it was, the Owl was caught and the 

 bottle lost. Poor little fellow ! he looked so patient, and seemed to implore 

 60 with his large upraised eyes, that we almost felt sorry he was caught. 

 Another one was caught in the same manner, about a fortnight later, and 

 both these are now in the Zoological Gardens. I fed them upon birds 

 which they chiefly contributed to catch, thus : In a field in which the 

 herbage was short, to allow of the Owl being seen, we would fix a low perch 

 in the ground and tie the Owl to it, allowing him, however, by means of 

 jesses and a long leash plenty of scope. In front of the perch, at a little 

 distance from each other, are stuck two sticks in the ground, each having a 

 slit at the toi). In this slit, and in each side of each stick, we lightly fixed a 

 small twig, with a slender branch or two projecting, which were limed. The 

 birds, on coming to mob the Owl, would alight on these tAvigs, which, falling 

 to the ground with their weight, entangled them in the lime, and thus they 

 became caught. In this way we captured Red-backed Shrikes, Yellow 

 Hammers, Tree Pipits, Whitethroats, &c. It is with the Little Owl that the 

 falconers capture the Great Gray Shrike, which in its turn is used by them 

 in capturing the Falcons. The livelier the Owl the better it is to capture 

 small birds with, as from its hopping and flying about it is the easier seen. 

 As soon as the evening began to close in, and sometimes of a morning, we 

 would see the Little Owl on the move, and in the middle of the day he 

 might often have been seen quietly seated in some dark cranny or other 

 outside the church. In the nights in July, when everything else was still, I 

 would lie awake with my window open, listening to their " koowit, kwitch," 

 accompanied only by the watchman's rattle and his monotonous voice, as he 

 went his rounds. During the time I had them caged, they never plucked 

 their birds before they eat them, and if you approached to look at them 

 they would stand up, stare at you, and snap their bills. The Little Owl 

 makes no regular nest, and lays from three to five eggs ; some I have are 

 round, and some rather oval, but they are all of the same size, and are of a 

 dull white colour. This was the only Owl I noticed as breeding round 

 Valkenswaard, but I was informed, that, at Wahlre, distant about two miles, 

 the Barn Owl breeds. 

 Guildford, Oct. Uth, 1^55. 



fTo be continued.) 



