124 The hish Nahiralist. J"ly. 



" LUMINOUS OWLS." 



BY MILDRED ELINOR DOBBS. 

 WITH NOTES BY C. B. MOFFAT, B.A. 



Having been asked by Mr. Ussher to write down anything 

 I may have observed about " Luminous Owls," I must 

 first state that I do not know, from my own observation, 

 that what I have seen are owls ; I only conclude they are, 

 from having read the correspondence on the subject in the 

 Times (December, 1907). 



My attention was drawn to them by the ferryman at 

 Villierstown ferry mentioning seeing birds at night-time 

 giving a light. As he was formerly a gamekeeper, I conclude 

 he was not mistaken in thinking what he saw were birds. 



The first time I saw them myself was one winter evening 

 at dusk ; the ferryman, just as I was stepping into the boat, 

 pointed down the river, saying, " There are two of the birds 

 now," and I saw a couple of lights moving along the hillside 

 towards Headborough between it and Strancally, a point 

 a mile in a straight line from where I stood. They moved 

 irregularly, sometimes disappearing, sometimes nearly 

 stationary, then moving rapidly. Even though the ferry- 

 man evidently was in earnest when he said they were birds, 

 I should have doubted their being anything but the light 

 from a trap or bicycle being driven along the Strancally 

 drive and disappearing and appearing between the trees ; 

 but one hglit suddenly turned and went rapidly back, past 

 Strancally, crossed the river (which is quite 200 yards at 

 that point), keeping about sixty feet above it, and in a few 

 seconds began going along the opposite hillside and then 

 after a minute disappeared. The other light kept on 

 flickering about the Headborough trees and presently 

 disappeared in the direction of Tallow. 



I have often seen them since, but they are difficult to 

 observe, as usually one sees them appear for a few minutes 

 moving rapidly, and then it may be another half-hour before 

 one catches sight of them again. My impression is that 

 it is only when they are flying partly or entirely towards 

 one, that one can see the light, it disappears so suddenly 

 and will appear again many yards to the right or left. 



